ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Brandeis University men's basketball team cut a 17-point deficit to one late in the game, but the Judges couldn't come all the way back today as they suffered a 56-53 defeat at the hands of Washington University in St. Louis in University Athletic Association play today.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 14-10, 5-8 UAA.
• Washington U.: 17-7, 7-6 UAA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first part of the contest was a defensive struggle, featuring four ties and six lead changes.
• The game was tied at 18-all after Brandeis junior Gilbert Otoo (Baldwinsville, Md./St. Vincent Palotti) hit a lay-up with just under five minutes remaining.
• The Bears responded by scoring the next 11 points and closing the half on a 13-4 run. Yogi Oliff scored six points, grabbed four rebounds and had two assists in the key run for the home team.
• WashU scored the first six points of the second half, extending the lead to 15 on a jumper by Kyle Beedon with 16:28 remaining in the stanza that made it 37-22.
• A Hayden Doyle 3-pointer for Washington U. made it 47-32 with 11:33 remaining.
• From there, the Brandeis defense started their comeback. Sophomore Ethan Edwards (Brooklyn, N.Y./Woodstock Acad.) hit back-to-back buckets, sparking a 13-2 run that got the Judges within 49-43 with 6:39 after senior Ryan Power (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) hit a jumper.
• Oliff answered on the other end to push the lead back to eight, and the teams traded six-straight empty possessions before Otoo hit another bucket with 4:34 to go making it 51-45 in favor of the home team
• WashU's Kyle Beedon connected from 3-point range with 4:19 on the clock to put the Bears ahead, 54-45, but that was the last field goal they would hit.
• Edwards went coast-to-coast for a bucket to start Brandeis's rally. The Judges hit a free throw, followed by an Otoo trifecta with 2:23 left to make it a one-possession game, 54-51.
• WashU missed a 3-pointer and were fouled on the ensuing offensive rebound, but the Bears missed both free throws.
• Brandeis had a driving lay-up to get within one, but just missed as the clock ticked under a minute. WashU got two more offensive rebounds on their next possession, but couldn't covert before committing a turnover.
• With just under 30 seconds left on the clock, Edwards drew a foul on a 3-pointer and hit the first two but missed the third, pulling Brandeis within 54-53.
• The Judges quickly put on a full-court trap, forcing WashU to call timeout in the back-court with 19.2 seconds left.
• The Judges were able to get a steal on the ensuing attempt, and drew a foul, but they were unable to hit the front end of the one-and-one.
• WashU's Hayden Doyle hit his freebies on the other end, pushing the lead to 56-53 with 9.3 seconds left. Brandeis brought the ball over midcourt, and the teams called back-to-back timeouts, but the Judges were unable to connect from downtown to tie the game on their final possession.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Edwards led both teams in scoring with 18 points off the bench, 13 of which came in the second half. He was 7-of-11 overall, 1-of-2 from downtown and 3-of-5 from the line.
• Otoo added 13 points, seven after the break. He hit 5-10 from the field, 1-of-3 from deep and 2-of-2 from the line. No other Brandeis player had more than two field goals.
• Using and senior Sam Adusei (Worcester, Mass./St. George's School) each had six rebounds, while Power had two assists. Using also had three steals for the Judges.
• After going 10-25 (40%) from 3-point range in their win over Chicago on Friday night, the Judges hit just 4-of-18 from beyond the arc (22%) today.
• The Judges allowed WashU to hit 41% in the first half (12-29) but just 29% in the second (9-31) as they came back. Brandeis also had a 12-7 advantage in points off turnovers, including 10-2 in the second half.
• WashU's Beedon led the Bears with 13 points, while Doyle added 11.
• Oliff stuffed the stat sheet for the hosts, finishing with eight points, six assists and a game-high 17 rebounds. He helped the Bears to a 45-31 advantage on the boards, including 14-6 on the offensive glass.

UP NEXT

• The Judges will close out their regular season next Saturday afternoon when they take on 12^th-ranked NYU at 3 p.m. for Senior Day.