Men's hoops drops tale of two halves at Rochester, 81-58

Chandler Jones '21 (Photo by Dean Reid / D3Photography.com)
Chandler Jones '21 (Photo by Dean Reid / D3Photography.com)

ROCHESTER, N.Y.  (taken from a UR press release) -- The Brandeis University men's basketball team shot the lights out in the first half, but couldn't keep up their momentum into the second as the Judges dropped an 81-58 decision to the University of Rochester in the Louis Alexander Palestra tonight.

The Judges fell to 6-17 overall, 2-10 in the University Athletic Association with the loss. Rochester evened its record in the University Athletic Association to 6-6 and stands at 15-8 overall. Both teams have two games left in the regular season.

Brandeis started off hot, hitting 9-of-12 from the field and 7-of-9 from beyond the arc to start the game. They slowed down a tad at the end of the first half, but finished hitting7-of-14 outside the three-point arc in the first half and trailed by just four, 44-40, at halftime. Early in the second, Rochester used an 11-3 spree to build a 12-point lead (57-45) five minutes into the stanza.

The Judges got a conventional three-point play from rookie Lawrence Sabir (Providence, R.I./LaSalle Academy) to trigger a 7-0 run. When senior Latye Workman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bedford Academy) drove the lane for a scoop shot, Brandeis was within 57-52 with 11:19 to play.

That was the last field goal of the game for the Judges. Their final six points came from the foul line. Rochester scored 12 straight points, then added another 10 to put the margin at 79-54 with more than three minutes left.

Jacob Wittig led Rochester with 18 points and five assists. He hit 7-9 from the field, 2-4 outside the arc. Andrew Lundstrom scored 14 points on 6-8 accuracy (1-1 on threes). Ryan Clamage had 13 points and five assists while Patrick Benka scored 13, including 4-4 outside the arc.

The Yellowjackets hit 52.5% from the floor, 56.5% in the second half. They scored 20 points off 19 Brandeis turnovers.

Brandeis, which hit 56.5% from the floor in the first half (13-23), was sharp outside the arc (7-14, 50%). In the second, they were not as sharp, hitting just 5-of-22 from the floor (22.7%) and 1-of-11 from downtown (9.1%).  Rookie Chandler Jones (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Commonwealth Academy) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals and two assists. Junior Corey Sherman (Penn Valley, Pa./Lower Merion) had 11 points, while senior Nate Meehan (Lowell, Mass./Phillips Andover) scored eight.

In the first half, Rochester scored the game's first nine points before Sabir drove for a layup. That got Brandeis going. The Judges outscored UR, 14-5, in less than three minutes and got within 14-13 on a three-pointer from sophomore Eric D'Aguanno (Saunderstown, R.I./St. James School). They took their first lead with an 8-0 run midway through the period: two free throws from Jones and back to back threes from Meehan at the key.

Ryan Clamage scored seven points in a late first-half run (16-9) that pushed UR ahead to stay at 39-36.