After being humbled by rival Babson College 78-47 in the first round of the Big 4 Challenge at Tufts University, the men's basketball squad could have chosen to hang its head for the tournament's consolation game.

Instead, the team made a statement, defeating host Tufts 90-82 on its own court.

Forward Alex Stoyle '14 credited the victory over the Jumbos to a change in the starting lineup.

"I think it worked in our favor," he said. "The lineup we put out there matched up well and we were able to grind out the win. At the end of the day that's what matters."

The Judges opened Sunday's contest in strong fashion. Guard Robinson Vilmont '17 continued his impressive start to the season, scoring a jump shot and sinking a free throw in quick succession to give the Judges a 26-21 advantage with 12 minutes, seven seconds left in the first half. However, Tufts went on a 13-5 run over the next four minutes to take a 34-31 lead.

Stoyle made two of two from the free throw line to cut the hosts' advantage to one and hopefully swing the momentum back in the visitors' favor. However, Tufts sophomore Tom Folliard took the wind out of the Judges' sails with a jump shot to restore the Jumbos' three-point advantage. The first half stayed relatively even from that point on and the hosts had a 46-43 edge.

The second half looked to be tough for the Judges, especially as Folliard made a jump shot to extend Tufts' lead to five just 34 seconds in. However, a three-pointer from guard Gabriel Moton '14 fueled the Judges' surge to victory. The teams traded baskets until Moton and guard Ben Bartoldus '14 made back-to-back three-pointers to give the Judges a 60-55 advantage over Tufts.

After Folliard pulled the Jumbos to within three with a jump shot, Bartoldus sank another three-pointer to stretch Brandeis' advantage. From there, the Judges led by as many as 10 points before two free throws from Moton put the finishing touches on the 90-82 victory.

Moton led all scorers with 29 points and was a perfect eight-for-eight from the free throw line.

Bartoldus chipped in with 16 of his own. Folliard had 20 points for Tufts, while senior guard Kwame Firempong added 18 points.

The Judges also received strong games from center Youri Dascy '14, Bartoldus and Stoyle to put away the Jumbos.

Dascy responded well to his first start of the season, recording season highs in minutes and points, while shooting 57.1 percent from the field. He recorded 13 points in 19 minutes, while pulling down five rebounds and recorded three blocks during the contest.

Bartoldus added four of his 16 points from the free thow line, and added five rebounds and a steal to his game statistics.

Stoyle marked the fourth member of the Judges to record more than 10 points in the vicotry, recording a season-high 14 points in 27 minutes on the court. The win over the Jumbos was the first time all season Stoyle came off the bench for coach Brian Meehan.

Saturday's game against Babson, though, was entirely a different story for Brandeis.

The Judges failed to put pressure of the Beavers from the opening tip-off, ceding a 12-2 lead to the Beavers in the opening four minutes. Though a three-pointer by Moton was enough to get the Judges within four points, senior guard Kenny Ross buried his own effort from outside the arc to give Babson a six-point advantage.

Stoyle lamented the Judges' inability to put a run together, as the slow start ultimately doomed the team to a loss.

"We just couldn't get anything going and slowly things got out of control," he said.

With 12:11 remaining in the half, Brandeis forward Kevin Trotman '17 made a layup and a free throw to pull the Judges back within four points of the Beavers.

However, Babson freshman forward Joey Flannery made a layup of his own on the next possession. Flannery then went to the line, where he sunk two foul shots to stretch his team's advantage to a 21-13 margin.

From that point, the Judges stayed in the game, holding on after a layup from Bartoldus pulled the Judges to within seven points with 3:10 in the half. Yet, free throws from Flannery and a layup from junior center David Mack gave the Beavers a 41-30 lead at the halftime break.

While Brandeis would have hoped to stay close and come out of halftime firing, it was ultimately undone by the Beavers, who, leading 55-39 with 11:52 left in the game, went on a 17-1 run that spanned six minutes, seven seconds. The run left them with a commanding 30-point advantage.

Though the Judges were able to control the damage from there, it was too little, too late as the team fell-who had only previously lost this season to Rhode Island College on a buzzer-beater-in demoralizing fashion.

Flannery carried Babson, scoring 31 points, identical to his team's margin of victory. His dominance was shown by the fact that the next two scorers-Ross and junior forward John Wickey-only had 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Moton led the Judges with 12 points and six rebounds, but committed four turnovers-part of 13 turnovers committed by the Judges. Babson cashed in on the miscues, recording 21 points off turnovers. The Judges managed just eight points off of 11 Beavers turnovers.

Vilmont also scored in double-figures, registering 10 points on 4-9 shooting from the field and added three rebounds to the Judges' 33 team rebounds on the day.

Brandeis struggled to get its offense-ranked second in the University Athletic Association in points per game-rolling when the game began, and it showed by the time the final whistle had blown.

Two of five Bradeis starters-Stoyle and guard Derek Retos '14-were held scoreless, although both players were on the court for 24 minutes, more than three-quarters of the game.

The Judges shot just 33.3 percent from the field, on 17 for 51 shooting, and shot a season-low 21.4 perecent from beyond the three-point line.

Babson outrebounded the Judges and converted 10 more points in the pain than Brandeis did, although the Judges did manage to score more bench points-a 17 to 14 advantage in favor of Brandeis.

While every member of the Judges entered the game, only three recorded more than five points, and six players were held scoreless.

The Judges never led during the contest, and at one point found themselves staring at a 33 point deficit to the Beavers.

Meehan avoided using his bench during the contest, as each one of his starters saw more than 20 minutes of game action, and only three players came off the bench for more than 10 minutes.

With the starting five struggling, the Judges were never able to establish momentum and found themselves out of the contest before it even began.

Even the halftime break could not reenergize the Judges, as they were held to just 17 points in the second half, easily their lowest total in any half this season.

No player scored more than three points for the Judges in the second half, and the team could never recover from the slow start.

Brandeis hosts top-ranked Amherst College tonight at 7 p.m., a challenge Stoyle knows the Judges can handle.

"[We have to] stay focused and start executing our stuff better," he explained. "We are really good when we play the way we want to play. We just need everyone on the same page."

- Jacob Moskowitz and Avi Gold contributed reporting