BRUNSWICK, Maine – In their third-straight road game to start the season, the Brandeis University men's basketball team were able to overcome a 10-point second-half deficit, this time completing the comeback for a victory as the Judges topped the host Bowdoin College Polar Bears, 70-66, in Morrell Gymnasium.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 1-2.
• Bowdoin, 1-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Bowdoin led for the entire first half after scoring eight of the game's first 10 points.
• The Judges closed within two points on a bucket by senior Elias Rodl (Berlin, Germany/Schulund Leistungssportzentrum Berlin) with just under nine minutes remaining in the period to get within 18-16.
• The hosts answered with a 9-0 run over the five minutes, taking their largest lead of the game at 11 points, 27-16, on a pair of Ray Cuevas free throws.
• A Rodl trifecta got Brandeis back within 30-26 with 3:16 before the break before Bowdoin claimed a 34-28 lead into the locker room.
• Rodl led all players with 14 first-half points, accounting for half of the Judges' scoring, while Cuevas had 11 for the home team.
• An 8-4 run to start the second half, capped by a Cuevas lay-up with three minutes gone, helped the Polar Bears reestablish their 10-point lead at 42-32 and forced Brandeis coach Jean Bain to call time out.
• The teams traded buckets on the next two possessions, but Brandeis went on a 10-0 run that included Rodl converting after being fouled taking a 3-pointer and saw sophomore Ryan Weiss (Hewlett, N.Y./North Broward Prep) dial long distance to tie things up at 44-all with 14:29 left in the game.
• Neither team was able to pull away from the other over the next 10 minutes as the lead changed hands three times with four ties.
• The score was still knotted at 63-all when Bowdoin's Mason Dawkins hit a lay-up with 3:37 to go.
• The Brandeis defense took over from there, holding Bowdoin without a field goal the rest of the way. A lay-up by sophomore Alex Zakheim (Bergenfield, N.J./Perkiomen, Pa.) gave Brandeis the lead for good with 2:59 to go.
• Cuevas hit a pair of free throws with 1:04 to go to make it a one-point game, but on the next possession, after the Polar Bears blocked a shot out of bounds, Zakheim made a nice move in the paint to spin away from a defender and bury a 10-foot jumper with 37 seconds to go.
• Brandeis forced three turnovers and three missed 3-pointers down the stretch to help secure the win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Rodl finished with a game-high 25 points, scoring 14 in the first half and 11 in the second. He hit 8-of-24 from the field, 4-of-15 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 from the line. Rodl also grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
• Zakheim finished with a career-high 22 points, 16 coming in the second half. It was his second 20-point game of the season. He also had six rebounds and a team-high three assists.
• Grad transfer JJ Hayes (Hilton Head, S.C./Hilton Head Prep) added a Brandeis-best 11 points.
• Bowdoin's Cuevas led the Polar Bears with 22 points, but no other player on his team had more than eight points.
• Nolan Bessire had eight rebounds and five blocked shots for the hosts.
• The Judges owned a 12-6 advantage in points off turnovers and 11-4 edge in second-chance points as they outrebounded Bowdoin, 16-8, on the offensive glass.

UP NEXT

• The Judges meet Rhode Island College on Tuesday, November 18, at 7 p.m., in the fourth of a five-game road trip.