CHICAGO, Ill. – Brandeis men's basketball junior Jordan Cooper (Weston, Fla./Sagemont School) scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the host University of Chicago Maroons used a 13-1 run midway through the stanza and held off the Judges, 75-65, in a University Athletic Association contest tonight. The Judges fall to 6-8, 2-2 in the UAA after their first conference road game, while the Maroons improve to 9-6, 1-3 UAA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The teams traded buckets for the first 3:54 before Chicago scored seven unanswered points to take a 13-6 lead on a Jake Fenlon 3-pointer.
• The Maroons were ahead by as many as 10 points after a Tyler Howard trifecta made it 26-16 for the home team with 7:27 on the clock.
• Brandeis climbed back into the contest by making their next four buckets all 3-pointers, three coming from junior Nate Meehan (Lowell, Mass./Phillips Andover), the last of which made it 31-28 with 2:09 left in the first.
• Though the Judges had two shots to get even closer, they were unable to convert and UC had the last five points of the half to take a 36-28 lead into the locker room.
• After the hosts opened the second with a Fenlon deep ball to make it an 11-point game, Cooper caught fire.
• He scored nine points in less than four minutes thanks to two 3-pointers and a traditional three-point play. Cooper dialed long distance at the 16:18 mark to get the Judges within 42-39.
• After getting a stop, senior Robinson Vilmont (Cambridge, Mass./Wilbraham and Monson Acad.) hit from beyond the arc to tie the game at 42-all.
• Chicago's Ryan Jacobson followed with an and-one opportunity that he converted, but Cooper answered with this fourth trifecta of the half to tie the game at 45-45.
• Vilmont scored on a driving lay-up with 11:29 on the clock to tie the game at 49-49.
• At that point, Chicago went on the decisive run, holding Brandeis to just one foul shot over the next five-and-a-half minutes.
• Fenlon and Howard hit back-to-back 3-pointers around a Brandeis foul shot to push the lead back to double digits, while Howard capped the run with a layup that made it 62-50 with 6:15 on the clock.
• Another Cooper three-point play at the 5:41 mark briefly got the lead into single digits, but UC answered with two Blaine Crawford freebies and the Maroons maintained the 10-point lead from there.

FOR THE JUDGES

• Cooper led all players with 21 points, hitting 7-of-14 overall, 3-of-5 from deep and 4-of-7 from the line.
• Cooper notched 19 of his 21 in the second half, when he connected on 6-of-11 overall, 3-of-4 on 3-pointers and all of his free-throw attempts.
• Cooper also tied with classmate Samuel Dowden (Andover, Mass./Andover) for team-high honors with seven rebounds.
• Vilmont added five assists to lead Brandeis.

FOR THE MAROONS

• Four of UC's starters scored in double digits, with Howard, Fenlon and Blaine Crawford all scoring 16 points and Waller Perez adding 14. Howard, Fenlon and Crawford combined for 16-of-24 (66.7%) shooting from the floor.
• Crawford finished with a double-double, notching 10 boards.
• Howard also led all players with six assists and three steals.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Chicago shot 51.1 percent from the floor (24-47), while Brandeis was limited to 43.4% (23-53).
• The teams were dead even from beyond the arc, with both squads hitting 8-of-20.
• Despite missing 11 times from the line, UC was able to outscore Brandeis, 19-11.
• Chicago also owned a 35-27 lead in rebounding.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis will head to St. Louis to take on 11^th-ranked Washington University Sunday at 12 noon (11 a.m. Central time) in another UAA contest.