WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University men's basketball team couldn't withstand the outside shooting of visiting Case Western Reserve tonight, as the Spartans hit a season-high 18 3-pointers in an 89-58 University Athletic Association win in Red Auerbach Arena. The loss sends the Judges to 4-13, 0-6 in the UAA, while CWRU improves to 9-8, 3-3 UAA.
The Judges never led in the contest as the Spartans jumped out to a 13-4 lead after five minutes. Rookie Ignas Masiulionis (Vilnius, Lithuania/Culver Academies, Ind.) netted eight points, including his first two trifectas in the run. Brandeis would get as close as six points on a bucket by Semih Say (Istanbul, Turkey/Brewster Academy) midway through the first, but CWRU closed the half on a 12-4 run to take a 42-27 lead into the break. The Spartans opened the second half with a 11-3 run that made it 53-30 on a Michael Volkening (Marengo, Ill./Marengo Community) trifecta, and they kept the Judges at arm's length from there, leading by as 32 points in the second half.
Brandeis put three players in double figures, paced by rookie Lawrence Sabir (Providence, R.I./LaSalle Academy), who had 13 points on 4-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from the line. He also had four rebounds and a career-high four steals. Junior Corey Sherman (Penn Valley, Pa./Lower Merion) finished 12 points off the bench, while Say added 11 points. Senior Latye Workman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bedford Academy) led the Judges with nine rebounds, while Sabir, Sherman and rookie Akim Sanni (Cotonou, Benin/Tabor Academy, N.H.) each had two assists.
Case Western Reserve put two players in double figures, with Masiulionis scoring a game-high 16 and sophomore Connor Nally (South Lyon, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) adding 15 off the bench. Four other Spartans players scored nine points as six different visitors hit 3-pointers, with five of those hitting multiple trifectas. Nally led the way for the visitors with five trifectas, while Masiulionis added four. Sam Hansen (Mason, Ohio/Arhcbishop Moeller) and Antonio Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) each had three bombs, Volkening had two and Mony Khela (Sacramento, Calif./West Campus) added one.
CWRU's Michael Hollis (Cleveland, Ohio/Saint Ignatius) led all players with 14 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Volkening had a game-high five assists.
Brandeis returns to action on Sunday afternoon at noon against Carnegie Mellon as they close out the first half of UAA play with their annual Alumni Family Day. Case Western Reserve is at NYU at the same time.