The men's basketball team dropped a 76-67 decision to UAA-leading host University of Rochester on Sunday two days after topping second-place Carnegie Mellon 73-72 on Friday. The Judges are 12-10 overall and 5-6 in the UAA.Brandeis had its best win of the season on Friday, as Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 hit the game-winning free throw with two seconds remaining to push Brandeis ahead of Carnegie Mellon. The slashing point guard was fouled on a strong drive to the basket with two seconds left, and made the second of two free throws to give the Judges their victory. The win avenged an 86-69 rout that the Tartans dished out in Waltham earlier this season.

Bryan Lambert '05 led the Judges with 19 points, while Joe Coppens '08 added 15 points and four rebounds off the bench. Coppens helped the Judges' reserves outscore the Tartan bench 21-3 in the game. Brandeis took its first lead, an 11-10 advantage, with just under 15 minutes remaining in the first half-a lead they did not relinquish until the final minute. The Tartans erased a 41-28 halftime deficit and eventually tied the game on a three-pointer with 30 seconds left, setting up Graves-Fulgham's late-game heroics.

The Judges shot 51 percent from the field in the game, and won despite getting out-rebounded 45-28.

"There was a lot of pressure and it was really loud in there," Graves-Fulgham said. "I just concentrated and it went in."

Coach Brian Meehan said he was confident Graves-Fulgham would make the shot.

"Our guys have all been in those types of situations before. They seem to be pretty comfortable coming down the stretch in games and hitting shots. It was a great, close win on the road for us and another part of us getting better as a team and moving forward."

"We got our running game going and that opened up a lot for us," Omri Ayalon '05 said. "It is hard to deal with us when we run the fast break well."

The game against Rochester was a different story as the Judges dug themselves an early hole, falling behind 10-0 just three minutes into the game. Lambert put up 21 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, and Steve DeLuca '08 added a team-high 23 points, matching his career high.

Rochester shot 59 percent from the field on its way to a 40-24 halftime advantage. The Judges trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half before mounting a 16-2 run, cutting Rochester's lead to 50-47 with 11:28 remaining. The Judges never got closer.

"It's kind of what has happened to us many times this season," Meehan said. "In certain games we struggle early on and fight like crazy to get back into it. We dig ourselves a hole and it's very hard for us to get the lead and pull those games off. That was really the story of the weekend. One game we got out to an early lead and played very well, but in the other game we had five bad minutes early and it cost us in the end."

The Judges will host Emory University on Friday and Case Western Reserve on Sunday.

"We are looking forward to coming home, grabbing a few more wins, and putting ourselves in a position to finish in the top half of the [UAA conference]," Meehan said. "We are well on our way to becoming a team within the [conference] that has a chance to compete for a championship.