WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University men's basketball team got a career-high-tying 27 points from junior Elias Rodl (Berlin, Germany/Schulund Leistungssportzentrum Berlin), but the visiting and #2-ranked Emory University Eagles went on an 18-2 run early in the second half to hold of the Judges, 88-77, in a University Athletic Association contest in Red Auerbach Arena this afternoon.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 10-4, 1-2 UAA.
• Emory: 13-1, 3-0 UAA, ranked #2 in Division III by D3hoops.com.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first half featured four ties and five lead changes.
• Emory took its biggest lead of the first stanza on an Ethan Fauss jumper that made it 23-16 with 10:52 left in the half.
• Brandeis answered by scoring the game's next nine points, the first five from grad student Sam Adusei (Worcester, Mass./St. George's School), who assisted a lay-up by junior Ethan Edwards (Brooklyn, N.Y./Woodstock Acad.) that gave Brandeis a 25-23 lead with 9:28 to go.
• The Judges extended their lead to 29-26 on a Rodl lay-up at the 7:48 mark, but Emory made another push with a nine-point run, going back ahead by six, 35-29, on AJ Harris's second-chance bucket.
• Harris had two more late buckets before Rodl scored the last hoop of the period to get Brandeis within 39-34 at the break.
• Rodl finished with 16 points in the first half, while Emory's Jair Knight had 12.
• The Judges opened the looked to take control back early in the second half, scoring 11 of the first 13 points. Adusei gave Brandeis the lead back with a lay-up at the 17:50 mark, while a Rodl trifecta on the following possession made it 45-41, Brandeis, with 17:21 left in the game.
• The Judges were still ahead, 52-48, with 14:15 on the clock when Emory went on the game's decisive run. Over the next 3:55, the Eagles hit 6-of-8 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line, while the Judges missed 7-of-8 shots.
• Emory's Ben Pearce scored 10 points during the run, including going 3-of-4 from the line after a pair of Brandeis technical fouls. Pearce's lay-up after hitting the last of those foul shots gave Emory a 66-54 lead with 10:20 remaining.
• The visitors' largest lead was 14 points, coming last with just under six minutes left in the game when a Harris put-back made it 80-66.
• Brandeis cut the deficit in half over the next two minutes, thanks to 3-pointers by Rodl and junior Jake Bender (Scituate, R.I./St. George's School), while junior Matthew Cadogan (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) hit 1-of-2 from the line to get the Judges within 82-75 with 3:53 to go.
• The Eagles got three offensive rebounds on their next two possessions, allowing them to milk the clock and finish up with their 11-point win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Rodl matched his career-high with 27 points in the contest, scoring 16 points in the first half and 11 in the second. He finished 11-for-16 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
• Rodl also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, the second-highest total in his career.
• Adusei added 15 points, while senior Toby Harris (Durham, N.C./Durham Acad.) scored 11 points – nine in the second half – but the total was eight below his season average entering the game.
• Graduate student Aedan Using (Old Lyme, Conn./Old Lyme) continued his fine all-around play, leading the team with a career-high eight assists while grabbing seven rebounds with three blocked shots and two steals as well.
• Emory saw four starters score in double figures, with Logan Shanahan matching Rodl with 27 points – 19 coming in the second half. Knight finished with 20 points, while Pearce scored 15 of his 18 after the intermission. Harris rounded out the quartet with 13 points.
• Shanahan also led all players with 10 rebounds to reach double-double status, while Pearce had six assists and Knight and Albert Fallas each had five helpers. Knight had four steals as well.
• The teams were just about even in shooting percentage (43.9%-43.7% in favor of Brandeis) and the Judges had 12 3-pointers to seven for the Eagles.
• Emory counteracted that deficit with a 43-36 rebounding margin that included a 20-10 edge on the offensive glass, leading to a 22-7 advantage in second-chance points and 46-26 edge in points in the paint.

UP NEXT
The Judges will play their next four UAA contests on the road, starting on Friday, January 24, at Case Western Reserve for a 5:30 p.m. tip.