BOSTON, Mass. (taken from an Emerson press release) -- Rookie Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass./St. Andrew's School) recorded his first collegiate double-double tonight as the 14th-ranked Brandeis men's basketball team improved to 9-0 for only the third time in school history with a 65-54 win over Emerson College. The win sets up a showdown between undefeated team in Saturday's University Athletic Association  opener, when the Judges take on 10-0 New York University at 3 p.m. Emerson falls to 4-4 with the loss.

The Judges never trailed in the contest, as Dascy, juniorTyrone Hughes (Dorchester, Mass./Taft School) and rookie Ben Bartoldus (Hillsborough, N.H./Proctor Acad.) scored the game's first eight points en route to scoring in double figures. Dascy finished with career-bests of 21 points and 11 rebounds. He went 9-for-10 from the floor, while four of his 11 caroms came on the offensive glass. He has led or tied for the Judges' scoring lead in each of the past four contests. Hughes had a season-high 15 points, 11 coming in the first half, while Bartoldus had seven of his 11 in the opening stanza. Senior forward Christian Yemga (Yaounde, Cameroon/Proctor Acad.) set a new career-high with seven assists.

The Judges stayed perfect on the season primarily by pounding the ball inside where they held a 36-14 advantage in points in the paint.  Emerson attempted to stay in the game by shooting threes, but the Lions were able to make only 11 of 33 attempts from behind the arc. 

Brandeis never trailed in the game, breaking out to an 8-0 lead in the first 3:30. The Lions rallied to within 17-15 on a three point shot by sophomore Bilali Kalilou-Mack (Windsor, Conn.) with 7:32 left, but the Judges scored the next eleven points.  Emerson junior Nate Firn (Wadesboro, N.C.) canned five consecutive points for the Lions to pull the game within 26-20, and clasmate Carlos Negrete (Orange County, Calif.) got the hosts within four points with a layup.  Brandeis junior Vytas Kriskus (Kvedarna, Lithuania/Holderness School) dropped in two free throws to give the Judges a 28-22 lead at the break.

Following a Hughes layup to begin the second stanza, Kalilou Mack drilled a three to bring Emerson to within 30-27.  A 9-2 run gave the Judges some breathing room, but Emerson refused to quit, getting three pointers from grad student Tom Messinger (Florence, Mass.) and Negrete to keep the Lions within five points.

A Dascy layup started a 10-0 Brandeis run that put the game out of reach, as the lead stretched to 16 on three different occasions.

Messinger was Emerson's top scorer with 17 points.  Firn added 11 and Negrete had 10.