WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University men's basketball team had one of its best shooting games of the season, connecting on 57% from the floor, as the Judges knocked off 17th-ranked Washington University, 84-65, in a University Athletic Association contest in Red Auerbach Arena today. With the win, the Judges improve to 12-9 overall on the season, 3-7 in the UAA, while the Bears fall to 16-7, 6-6 UAA.
Click here for postgame comments with coach Jean Bain and Nolan Hagerty with Jonah White.
The Judges finished the game with four players scoring in double figures, paced by senior center Nolan Hagerty (Yarmouth, Maine/Yarmouth), who scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. He also grabbed 12 rebounds, seven coming on the offensive glass, for his third double-double of the season. Hagerty also dished three assists. Graduate student Tommy Eastman (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) scored 16 points and had four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Junior guard Dylan Lien (Northborough, Mass./Worcester Academy) scored 14 points off the bench, more than tripling the WashU reserves, while graduate student Collin Sawyer (New London, Conn./New London) tallied 11 points. Senior Sam Nassar (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law) led all players with five assists as the Judges had 18 helpers on their 33 baskets. In addition to shooting 56.9% from the field (33-58), their second-highest percentage of the season, the Judges also outrebounded WashU, 35-27, and won the turnover battle, 15-11. That gave Brandeis an 18-8 edge in second-chance points and 19-16 on points off turnovers.
WashU also had four players score in double figures. The league's leading scorer, Jack Nolan, finished with a game-high 22 points and five rebounds. Hayden Doyle added 14 points and three helpers, while Charlie Jacob had 13 points. Drake Kindsvater netted 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The other 11 players on the WashU roster combined for just six points. Matt Gonzalo had four assists as a reserve. The Bears shot just 41.1% (23-56), although they were better from 3-point range at 43.5% (10-23.
The first 14 minutes of the game saw two ties and eight lead changes. With 6:17 on the clock in the first half, WashU's Jake Wolf scored his only bucket of the game to tie it at 26-26. Brandeis outscored WashU, 15-5, the rest of the way to take a 41-31 lead into the half. Seven different Brandeis players contributed to the run, with only Hagerty scoring on more than one possession. The Judges outscored WashU, 9-2, to start the second half, capped by a Lien 3-pointer that made it 50-33 with 16:33 to go. The Bears would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
The win was Brandeis's first over Washington University since 2016, as they were the only UAA team that head coach Jean Bain had never defeated. It was the Judges' first home win over the Bears since 2012, and the 19-point margin of victory was Brandeis's highest ever against WashU. Coupled with the women's 58-57 win in the second game of the doubleheader, it marked the first time ever Brandeis had swept Washington University at home.
Before the contest, Brandeis honored the six players who are in the final stretch of their careers with the Judges: Graduate students Sawyer, Eastman, and Austin Clamage (Lake Forest, Ill. / Lake Forest Academy) and seniors Hagerty, Nassar, and Chandler Jones (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Commonwealth Academy), whose season ended due to injury several weeks ago.
The Judges still have three UAA games remaining, starting on Wednesday evening against Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh at 7 p.m., before back-to-back games with NYU.
