ATLANTA, Ga. - The Brandeis men's basketball team could not hang
on to a five-point lead with 1:38 left in the contest, as the host
Emory University Eagles scored the game's final six points, with
rookie Alex Greven connecting on a jumper with seven seconds left
to give the hosts a 64-63 University Athletic Association victory.
With the loss, the Judges fall to 18-6, 8-5 in the UAA, while Emory
improves to 15-9, 7-6 in the UAA, completing their first season
sweep of the Judges since 2003-04.
The loss spoiled another tremendous performance from Brandeis
senior Terrell Hollins (Springfield,
Mass./Longmeadow), who had game-highs with 16 points and 19
rebounds, tying a career-best. Hollins hit 8-of-13 from the field,
but missed his only free throw, and also had four steals. His
double-double was his UAA-leading 12th of the season and
the 20th of his career.
Senior Kenny Small (Stratford, Conn./Stratford)
added 12 points, sophomore guard Vytas Kriskus
(Kvedarna, Lithuania/Holderness School) had 11 off the bench, all
in the second half, and senior guard John Weldon
(Freehold, N.J./Freehold) added a career-high eight points. The
Judges owned a 36-31 edge on the boards, including 13-7 on the
offensive glass - six by Hollins - but a tough 53 percent showing
from the free-throw line was costly (8-15).
Emory's Dan Curtin matched Hollins with 16 points on 7-of-12
with a 3-pointer and a free throw. Rookie Michael Friedberg had 13
points off the bench, hitting 4-of-5 from the floor with his only
trifecta and 4-of-6 from the line. Sophomore Austin Claunch added
12 points and a game-high four assists. Julien Williams led the
hosts with seven rebounds, two on the offensive glass. The Eagles
outshot Brandeis, 44 percent (22-50) to 41 percent (24-59) and won
the turnover battle, 12-11.
With the game tied at the half, 29-29, the Judges opened the
second stanza by scring the first eight points in just less than
two minutes to start the second. Hollins and sophomore
Christian Yemga (Yaounde, Cameroon/Proctor Acad.)
scored four points each in the run, including three field goals on
offensive rebounds and the fourth coming on an assist by Hollins
that gave the Judges a 37-29 lead. The Eagles rallied with eight of
the next nine points, climbing within one at 38-37 on a Greven
steal and outlet to Chad Hixon at the 14:43 mark. EU eventually
tied the game when Alex Gulotta was fouled beyond the arc and hit
2-of-3 to knot the game at 39-39.
Kriskus gave the Judges the lead back with his first bucket of
the game with just under 13 minutes remaining. After the teams
traded a pair of fruitless possessions, Friedberg tied the game and
Curtin hit a traditional three-point play to give the Eagles
their first lead of the second half, 44-41, with 9:44 left. The
teams traded the lead on five-straight possessions, including
three-consecutive trifectas. The last in the run, from Kriskus,
sparked an 11-5 Judge run that put them ahead, 59-54, on Weldon's
trifecta with exactly five minutes to go.
The Judges were able to maintain the lead for the next 3:24, but
three missed free throws kept them from extending it further.
Senior Andre Roberson (Springfield,
Mass./Wilbraham & Monson) hit one of two with 1:36 left,
putting the Judges up, 63-58, but that was the last point of the
game for the Judges. Brandeis got at stop on the ensuing Emory
possession, but were called for a foul away from the ball, sending
EU's Anthony Fernandez to the line with 1:11 left. After Emory got
a stop on a Yemga miss with 55 seconds left, Frieberg grabbed the
rebound, and Claunch drew a foul near midcourt with 45 seconds
left, hitting both foul shots to cut the lead to one.
On the next possession, the Judges worked the clock, but Small's
3-pointer was errant. Greven grabbed the rebound and pushed the
pace, hitting the game-winning jumper with 5.9 seconds on the
clock. It was Greven's first hoop of the game, but as he did in
Waltham when he hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in a tie game, it
was the decisive bucket. Brandeis called timeout to set up a play,
but Roberson's driving jumper was off the mark and they were unable
to get off a second attempt.
BOX
SCORE
