It was another tough week for the Brandeis Men's basketball team who came up short in both of their UAA contests at Auerbach Arena this weekend. Brandeis (3-10, 0-5 UAA) fell to the University of Chicago Maroons on Friday in a blowout loss before fighting seventh ranked Washington University in a tough nine point loss on Sunday afternoon. On Friday night, their UAA home opener, the Judges stalled at the starting line and never recovered. The visiting University of Chicago Maroons started off the game on a 13-2 run over the first five and a half minutes and never trailed cruising to a 25 point victory.
Chicago (7-8, 3-1 UAA) had three players reach double figures led by Justin Waldie who scored 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor. Waldie also had a game-high four assists and scored 16 of his 20 in the first half before sitting most of the second with the game in hand. Forward Mike Dolzeal '05 added 15 points and five rebounds and Scott Fisher scored 10 points despite shooting a poor 5-14 from the floor. The Judges were led by center Bryan Lambert '04 who had 14 points on 6-12 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Tim Deihl '04, who tallied six points, was the next-highest scorer for the Judges who scored just 51 total. Brandeis' offensive ineptitude in this contest is inevitably what led to the 76-51 drubbing. The team's anemic 38.6 percent shooting from the field kept the crowd quiet all night as nothing seemed to be falling for the home team. The Maroons led 42-22 at halftime and Brandeis was unable to cut down the lead at any point from then on.
To worsen the situation for the Judges, forward Pat Collier '06 suffered an injury in the game when teammate Scott Green '05 and a Chicago player rolled into his knee. Although the severity of the injury was unclear at the moment, Collier was forced to miss the Washington University game. Speaking about the nature of the injury and the commonality of similar injuries to those who play down low, Collier mused "It's a tough spot [playing in the paint]. But it's fun"
The matchup on Sunday was significantly better for the home team despite a negative outcome. Conversely to their poor shooting performance on Friday, Brandeis started the game off on fire hitting 56.7 percent of their shots in the first half. Unfortunately for the Judges, Washington was almost equally as hot connecting on 53.3 percent of their shots. The game was ultimately determined at the free throw line as a 27-7 desparity from the line gave the Bears the edge in an 80-71 victory.
Trying out an almost entirely new starting lineup, Coach Meehan and the Judges seemed to have an added spark against the highly ranked perennial powerhouse Bears. Every player who suited up for the game played a significant number of minutes as Meehan continues to search for the right combination. "I think the shake up was something that needed to be done," stated Ben Bosanac '04, "guys on our team in coach's eyes were not coming and giving everything they had to the team consistently enough. We need to come and play everyday and if that doesn't happen coach will address it." Bosanac then added "coach [Meehan] is a great coach, he knows how to get the most out of you, and I think it showed in the way some guys played today, he is gonna make you play better than you think you can and until he gets that he isn't gonna be content."
Despite the shakeup and temporary loss of his starting position, Lambert contributed a solid output recording a double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds and Omri Ayalon '05 added 10 points coming off the bench as well. Glenn Wright scored 10 for the Judges and was the only starter in double-digits. Barry Bryant led Washington University (12-4, 4-1 UAA) scoring 15 points and tearing down 7 rebounds while Ryan Deboer and Anthony Hollins added 13 and 11 respectively.
The first half was tight and well played by both sides. Brandeis used its hot shooting from behind the arc (six-of-11) to take a 31-26 lead with 7:12 remaining in the first half. WashU answered with an 18-6 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes to take a 44-37 lead before Brandeis scored the last two baskets of the half on lay-up by Wright and a 3-pointer by Ayalon. Brandeis went into the locker room trailing 44-42.
The second half was not as good for the Judges as WashU stormed out of the locker room and went on a 7-1 run to increase their lead to 51-43. The Judges still had some fight left. They creeped back to within two points with 9:15 left at 61-59. Unfortunately, over the next three minutes the wheels came off for Brandeis as 10 consecutive points for the Bears sunk the Judges' hopes for an upset victory. Still the outlook for the team is positive as they aim to turn around their season.
"We just need to keep working and continue to reiterate what we are being taught because if we don't, our mental, physical and spiritual states will not find tranquility," professed Bosanac. "Nothing is gonna come easy playing in the UAA, so even for Coach Meehen this year is a learning experience but what we do know is that energy and effort are needed to head in the right direction.