Sherman guides men to 67-65 win at Case Western Reserve

Corey Sherman '19 (Photo by Sportspix.com / Mike Broglio)
Corey Sherman '19 (Photo by Sportspix.com / Mike Broglio)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Brandeis University men's basketball team held host Case Western Reserve University scoreless for a five-minute stretch in the second half, outscoring the Spartans 7-0 in that span, and the Judges hung on for a 67-65 road victory in the University Athletic Association. With the win, the Judges improve to 9-5 overall, 2-1 in the UAA. The Spartans fall to 8-6, 1-2 UAA. The victory was Brandeis's first in Cleveland since the 2008-09 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Brandeis trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half after the Spartans' James Bittner made it 19-8 with 11:43 on the clock.
  • CWRU was still ahead, 35-26, with 1:50 to go before halftime before the Judges closed strong.
  • Senior Corey Sherman (Penn Valley, Pa./Lower Merion) hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go, then scored a fast-break lay-up to beat the buzzer after a blocked shot by grad student Latye Workman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bedford Academy). The bucket made it 35-31 in favor of the hosts at halftime.
  • Junior Eric D'Aguanno (Saunderstown, R.I./St. Andrews School) kept the Judges in the game in the first half with nine points on three 3-pointers.
  • The Judges opened strong in the second half, scoring the first seven points to take a 38-35 lead after junior Collin Sawyer (New London, Conn./New London) hit a 3-pointer and two free throws at the 17:39 mark.
  • The next 10 minutes or so featured four ties and four lead changes. The Spartans were ahead with 6:58 to go after Michael Voelkining made a pair of free throws to give the hosts a 51-49 lead.
  • On the next possession, Brandeis sophomore Chandler Jones (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Commonwealth Academy) hit a 3-pointer from straight away that gave the Judges a 52-51 lead they would not relinquish.
  • Another Jones trifecta with 2:49 to go made it 61-56, and the Judges hit 6-of-9 free throws down the stretch to hold off the home team.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

  • Sherman led all players with 20 points, 13 coming in the second half. He hit 8-of-12 from the field, 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and 2-of-2 from the line.
  • Jones and Sawyer also had big second halves, with Jones scoring 10 of his 13 points after the break and Sawyer netting seven of his 10.
  • Workman nearly registered a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He also led all players with five assists.
  • Michael Hollis had a fine all-around game to lead CWRU with 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
  • After allowing Case Western to shoot 46.4% in the first half (13-28), including 41.7% from downtown (5-12), Brandeis held them to 30.8% in the second from the field (8-26), though half their hoops were from 3-point range (4-10, 40%).
  • Meanwhile the Judges improved from 39.3% from the field in the first (11-28) to 55% in the second (11-20).
  • With the win, Brandeis needs just one victory to reach a 10-win season for the first time since 2013-14.

UP NEXT

  • Brandeis returns home for their first full UAA weekend, taking on the University of Chicago on Friday, January 18 at 8 p.m. and Washington University on Sunday, January 20 at 11 a.m.
  • CWRU heads to Emory and Rochester in UAA play next weekend.