AMHERST, Mass. -- Graduate student Steve DeLuca
(Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) led the Brandeis University men's
basketball team past their third nationally-ranked opponent of the
season tonight as the Judges defeated No. 9-ranked Amherst, 73-58,
in Western Massachusetts. DeLuca had game-highs with 23 points and
a season-high 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the
campaign. With the win, the Judges avenged their 2008 NCAA
Tournament Elite Eight loss and improved to 9-5 on the season,
while Amherst falls to 13-2.
With the game tied at 44-44 midway through the second half,
Brandeis scored the next nine points. DeLuca opened the barrage
with a lay-up, followed by two Andre Roberson
(Springfield, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson) free throws. Sophomore
forward Christian Yemga (Yaounde, Cameroon/Proctor
Acad.) followed with a fast-break lay-up and a traditional
three-point play to extend Brandeis's lead to 53-44 with 6:16 left.
Lord Jeff senior forward Brian Baskauskas halted the run with a
lay-up, but two free throws by Brandeis junior forward
Terrell Hollins (Springfield, Mass./Longmeadow)
pushed the lead back to nine. Amherst scored on their next two
possessions, but both times, DeLuca answered from 3-point range to
push the Brandeis lead to 61-50 with just over four minutes left in
the game. The Judges' lead was never below 10 points the rest of
the way. Brandeis outscored Amherst, 29-14, in the final ten
minutes of the contest, holding the hosts to 4-of-16 shooting over
that stretch while connecting on 6-of-10 of their own from the
field and 15-of-17 from the line. DeLuca, who scored 14 of his 23
points in the final quarter of the contest, became the 10th
Brandeis played to score 1,400 career points, surpassing Stanley
House '89 for 10th on the Judges' career scoring list.
The Judges also put two other players in double figures. Junior
guard Kenny Small (Stratford, Conn./Stratford)
reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 12 points
on 4-of-8 shooting from the field with a 3-pointer and 3-of-4 from
the line. Nine of his points came in the first half. Senior
Kevin Olson (Rockport, Mass./Rockport) added 11
points, hitting 3-of-5 3-pointers and both free throws. The Judges
outrebounded Amherst, 33-27. They also outscored the Lord Jeffs,
15-6, in points off turnovers despite committing one more miscue,
11-10.
For Amherst, Baskauskas finished the night with a team-high 14
points and seven rebounds, while Brian Wheeler added ten points.
The Lord Jeffs join Rhode Island College (then 25th) and Carnegie
Mellon (then 14th) as nationally-ranked teams to fall to the Judges
this season.
BOX
SCORE
