CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After putting up their lowest-scoring half of
the season, the Brandeis University men's basketball team overcame
a 31-20 halftime deficit by scoring a season-high 53 in the second
to defeat host Case Western Reserve, 73-66. The Judges also took a
season-high 39 free throws, connecting on 32 of them. With the win,
Brandeis improves to 10-5 overall, 3-1 in the University Athletic
Association. Case falls to 5-10, 2-2 UAA.
Brandeis put three players in double figures, offsetting a
33-point performance by Case sophomore Kevin Herring. Grad student
Steve DeLuca (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) recorded
his second-straight double double with 16 points and a game-high 10
rebounds. It was his third double-double of the campaign and the
11th of his career. DeLuca hit just 4-of-10 from the field,
but added 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Junior guard Andre Roberson (Springfield,
Mass./Wilbraham & Monson) led the squad with 17 points, thanks
to 4-of-8 shooting from the field and a 9-of-11 performance from
the line. Junior guard Kenny Small (Stratford,
Conn./Stratford) added 13 points off the bench, all coming in the
second half. Small was 3-for-7 overall from the field, 2-of-3 from
3-point range, and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Roberson also
had three assists and tied with DeLuca with two steals.
Herring led Case, scoring the Spartans' first 13 points of the
game and matching the visitors with 20 first-half points. Herring
was 8-of-11 in the first half, going 3-of-6 from downtown and
1-of-2 from the line, but in the second half, was just 2-of-6 from
the field - with two trifectas - going 7-of-7 at the line. No other
Spartan player had more than eight points, and their leading
rebounder, senior center Rob Skuski, had just five boards.
After Brandeis took an early 5-3 lead, a Herring trifecta with
just under five minutes elapsed gave the hosts their first
advantage at 8-5. DeLuca answered with a lay-up at the 14:28 mark,
but the Judges would hit just one more field goal over the next
10:15 as the Spartans opened up a 16-point bulge. A Herring lay-in
with 4:27 left in the half gave Case a 28-12 lead. Brandeis scored
the next five points on a Napoleon Lherisson
(Boston, Mass./Thayer Acad.) free throw and a bucket and two from
the line by sophomore forward Christian Yemga
(Yaounde, Cameroon/Proctor Acad.) and were able to stay close at
the line, trailing 31-20 at the break. The Judges shot a
meager 18.2 percent in the first (4-22), but 11-for-13 free throw
shooting (84.6%) kept them alive as the Spartans were connecting on
47.8 percent from the field (11-23).
Brandeis opened the second half by connecting on four of their
first six shots, pulling within one, 33-32, on Small's first
trifecta of the game with 5:11 gone. Herring answered with a deep
ball of his own, while a Skuski tip-in pushed the edge back to six
points for the Spartans. After Small hit 1-of-2 from the line,
Skuski connected again, putting the hosts ahead, 40-33, with 13:10
left in the game.
The Judges answered with eight straight points, as Small gave
the Judges their first lead since early in the contest, 41-40, with
four straight free throws. From there, the game featured six ties
and 10 lead changes. Case's biggest lead came on back-to-back
buckets by Skuski that gave them a 57-54 lead with 5:07 remaining.
Brandeis answered with a lay-up by junior forward Terrell
Hollins (Springfield, Mass./Longmeadow) and a fast-break
bucket by Roberson that led to a traditional three-point play. The
free throw put the Judges ahead, 59-57, and they would never trail
again, though the Spartans would tie the contest three more times.
The final deadlock came at 64-64 after a Bryan Erce driving
lay-up for the Spartans. Roberson answered with a line-drive jumper
and two free throws to push the lead to 68-64. The Judges
connected on their last seven foul shots to salt away the contest.
Brandeis is next in action on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. in
a UAA showdown at Emory University.
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