Men can't complete Midwest sweep, fall at WashU, 75-54

ST LOUIS, Mo. – The Brandeis University men's basketball team played an even game for the first 27 minutes of action, but host Washington University closed the game on a 35-14 run to hand the Judges a 75-54 defeat in a University Athletic Association contest played in St. Louis today. With the loss, the Judges fall to 14-10 overall on the season, 7-6 in the UAA. WashU improves to 16-8, 9-4 UAA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Brandeis and Washington U. played an even first half. The Judges led by as many as seven points when senior Corey Sherman (Penn Valley, Pa./Lower Merion) hit a 3-pointer at the 6:07 mark that made it 22-15.
• After a timeout, WashU scored 12 of the game's next 14 points over a four-minute span. The Bears took a 27-24 lead when Kameron Mack hit a lay-up with 2:19 remaining.
• The Judges fought back to reclaim the lead on a Kyle Downing (Upton, Mass./Nipmuc Regional) bucket, but Mack beat the buzzer in the half to give WashU a 29-28 lead at the break.
• Washington never trailed in the second half, though the Judges stayed close in the first seven minutes. Brandeis tied the game at 40-40 with 13:05 on a 3-pointer by junior Eric D'Aguanno (Saunderstown, R.I./St. James School).
• The Judges' tired legs seemed to catch up with them at that point, as Brandeis went 0-4 with two turnovers over the next four minutes as the hosts scored seven-straight points, starting with a 3-pointer after they missed two free throws but got an offensive rebounds.
• Brandeis scored back-to-back buckets with just under 10 minutes remaining to close back within three, but Washington called timeout with a 49-46 lead and 7:39 to go to try to halt the Judges' momentum.
• The Bears' Justin Hardy scored the game's next seven points, pushing their lead up to 10 points, and the Judges hit just one field goal over a six-minute span as the home team pulled away for the 21-point victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Brandeis was led by Sherman, who scored 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
• D'Aguanno added 10 points off the bench, including a pair of 3-pointers that gave him 175 for his career, putting him in the top five on Brandeis's career list.
• Downing finished with a career-high eight points, seven coming in the first half
• Sophomore forward Chandler Jones (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Commonwealth Academy) led the Judges with seven rebounds, while graduate student Latye Workman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bedford Academy) had three assists.
• WashU put four starters in double figures in scoring, paced by Jack Nolan, who scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
• Justin Hardy and Matt Nester added 12 points and Jonathan Arenas had 10.
• Bear center Hank Hunter led all players with 14 rebounds and tied for team- and game-high honors with three assists. Hardy and Arenas also had three helpers.
• After the tightly-played first half, WashU outshot Brandeis 57% (17-30) to 24% (8-33) in the second to finish with a 52% (29-56) to 31% (19-61) advantage for the game.
• Washington also pulled away on the glass in the second half with a 25-15 margin after both teams had 16 boards in the first half.
• Turnovers were nearly even, with Brandeis committing just seven and WashU eight, though the Bears were able to convert them into nine points while Brandeis was able to get just two.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis will close out its regular season next Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against their rivals from New York University at the Hunter College Sportsplex.