Some teams live and die by the 3-point shot, and the men's basketball team died by it during its season opener this weekend. They lost two games in the Coaches versus Cancer Tournament at SUNY-Potsdam in Potsdam, New York. On Friday in the semi-finals of the four team tournament, the Judges faced off against SUNY-Potsdam. Although the Judges had more assists and rebounds than the Bears, as well as fewer turnovers, the score remained close throughout the first half. Near the end of the first half, however, the Judges had two costly turnovers. Both times the undersized Brandeis post players worked hard to get a rebound, but as they attempted to pass the ball to one of the guards to start a break-away, the ball was stolen and the Bears converted those steals into six points on two three-pointers. At the end of the half, the Judges trailed 33-24.

In the second half the Judges led as late as the 15:00 mark, but then substitutions were made to give the starters a rest, and when they returned, Brandeis had lost the lead.

The game remained very close, however, until 1:01 remained. With the Judges trailing 60-58, Kevin Richardson made his sixth three-pointer of the day despite heavy defensive pressure from forward Ben Bosanac '04 and center Bryan Lambert '04. That shot turned out to be the final basket of the game and sealed a 63-58 win for the Bears.

"[This was] clearly a game that could have gone either way," guard Greg Kristof '04 said.

SUNY-Potsdam depended heavily on its perimeter shooting to win, going 9-18 from beyond the arc. Brandeis was not able to counter, shooting 3-17 on three-pointers, all of which were made by guard Stuart Pradia '05. Pradia finished the game with 14 points.

"Until we become more proficient from the outside, we're going to have some tough nights," Coach Chris Ford said.

Several players shined for Brandeis. In addition to Pradia, Lambert scored 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds and forward Pat Collier '06 scored eight points off the bench.

"We played very well as a team and are very disappointed that we lost," Pradia said.

The Judges found more disappointment in the consolation game on Saturday against SUNY-Westbury. Brandeis was shaken when Westbury made its first eight baskets to jump out to an early lead. The Judges played a zone defense which was not effective against Westbury's perimeter shooting, and they were again burned by threes as Westbury shot 12-31 for the game. Brandeis was unable to counter, going 0-11 from three-point range.

The Judges did, however, play well otherwise on offense and fought back to go into halftime trailing 44-39.

But, this rally was short-lived. Westbury continued its three-point barrage in the second half, and Brandeis was outscored 35-24 en route to a 79-63 loss.

"We played well at times, but there were very few times when we executed well on both offense and defense," Kristof said.

Lambert again paced the Judges with 19 points and nine rebounds, and Collier had another big game off the bench, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds. For his efforts, Lambert was named to the all-tournament team.

Although it is a set-back, the Judges feel they have learned from their losses.

"It is a learning process and I think there will be a lot to build on. We're still a young team and there are going to be growing pains," Kristof said.

They also feel they will be competitive in the future.

"As long as our starters stay out of foul trouble and we get good contributions off the bench, we can compete in the UAA," Bosanac said.

After this disappointing start, the Judges must win both games remaining in the semester. The first is on November 26 at Wheaton College and the other is the home opener on Dec. 3 against Suffolk University.