WALTHAM, Mass. – In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, the Brandeis University men's basketball team defeated visiting University of New England, 89-60, in a contest that the Judges led wire-to-wire in Red Auerbach Arena.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 5-4.
• UNew England, 5-6.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Judges dominated the first half, outscoring the Nor'Easters, 21-9, over the first 7:14 of the contest, with six different Judges contributing points.
• Senior Elias Rodl (Berlin, Germany/Schulund Leistungssportzentrum Berlin) had seven in the stretch, while sophomore Ryan Weiss (Hewlett, N.Y./North Broward Prep) had six on a pair of 3-pointers.
• Brandeis's lead would swell as large as 26 points on a driving lay-up by senior Enrique Perez (Miami, Fla./Riviera Prep) with 1:19 on the clock before a late UNE spurt cut the hosts' lead to 54-35 at halftime.
• Rodl finished with 14 first-half points, while sophomore Alex Zakheim (Bergenfield, N.J./Perkiomen, Pa.) had 12 and grad student DJ Courtney (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) had 10. That trio, along with Weiss, combined to hit nine 3-pointers in the half.
• UNE's Jayden Thornton had 12 in the first half.
• Brandeis outshot UNE in the first half, 52.5% (21-40) to 38.5% (10-26) and outrebounded the visitors by a 27-13 margin.
• The teams were sluggish to start the second half, going two minutes before scoring a field goal.
• A Thornton steal and lay-up got the Nor'Easters within 15 at 57-42 with just under four minutes gone in the second, but Brandeis scored 20 of the game's next 24 points.
• The Judges established their largest lead of the game at 31 when a Gur Dhillon (Frisco, Texas Brewster Acad., N.H.) put-back made it 77-46 with 8:10 remaining and they cruised from there.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Judges finished with four players scoring in double figures. Zakheim led the way with 20 points, his sixth game with 20 or more this season. He shot 8-of-12 from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 1-of-1 from the line.
• Rodl had a fine all-around performance with 19 points and a season-high 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Rodl also led the Judges with four assists.
• Dhillon scored 14 points off the bench, matching the total of all of the UNE reserves, and Courtney added 12 points.
• Dhillon also pulled down eight rebounds, while three others had six, as the Judges owned the boards, 56-32, including 17-10 on the offensive glass, leading to an 18-4 advantage in second-chance points.
• Thornton led UNew England with 14 points and Adam Lux had 12. Kha Cao Ra James led the visitors with 10 rebounds, while Jaleen Jackson had a game-high five assists.

UP NEXT

• The Judges are off for the semester and will resume play on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. against Keene State College.