Brandeis was led by juniors Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass./St. Andrews School, R.I.) and Gabriel Moton (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg). Dascy, a forward, registered his seventh career double-double - his first of 2012-13 - with a team-high 17 points and game-high 11 rebounds. Moton, a transfer guard from Boston College, notched 13 points and 10 boards, tying his career-best. It was his second double-double of the season and of his career. Dascy's front-court partner, junior Alex Stoyle (Goffstown, N.H./Tilton School), tied his season- and career-high with 14 points, while classmate Ben Bartoldus (Hillsborough, N.H./Proctor Acad.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points. Moton and Stoyle tied for game-high honors with four assists.
Brandeis outrebounded Clark, 40-34, and held the visitors to just 33.3% shooting from the floor (20-60), including 24.2% in the second half (8-33). The Judges also held their foes to just 1-of-15 shooting from downtown, 0-for-8 after the break.
Clark had a stellar performance from graduate student Brian Vayda (Sturbridge, Mass./Tantasqua Regional), who led all scorers with 24 points and topped the Cougars with seven rebounds. Vayda hit 7-of-12 from the field, including 1-of-3 from downtown, and all nine of his free-throw attempts. He also had a game-high four steals and tied with two teammates with two assists. Only one other Cougar player had more than two field goals on the night, grad student D.J. Bailey (Palmer, Mass./Palmer), who had seven points.
In the first half, the lead changed hands three times and had two ties. The largest lead was eight by the Judges after two Bartoldus free throws at the 9:48 mark made it 16-8. Clark chipped away, going on a 14-5 run over the next five minutes to reclaim a 22-21 lead on a John Karas (So. Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) jumper with 4:37 left in the stanza. Stoyle responded with a trifecta and the Judges scored eight of the next 10 points to take the lead for good. Brandeis owned a 31-28 lead at the break as Bartoldus had 10 points and Stoyle had nine to pace the Judges, while Dascy had five points and eight boards. Vayda kept the Cougars in the game in the first 20 minutes with 11 points.
Dascy opened the second half by scoring the first three buckets to put the Judges up by 12, 40-28, just 1:50 in. The lead grew to 14 on a dunk by Stoyle on a pretty feed by Moton at the 16:15 mark, but Clark would not go away. The Cougars scored eight unanswered points, including two traditional three-point plays by Vayda and Bailey to get back within six, 44-38. Clark got within four points twice in the final eight minutes, and an aggressive full-court press kept Brandeis from pulling away, but the Cougars could never get closer than two possessions the rest of the way.
Brandeis returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Becker College at 3:00 p.m. Clark plays its home opener Thursday at 6:00 p.m. against Worcester State University.
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