After 18 consecutive losses to the University of Chicago dating back to the 1994-95 season, the men's basketball team delivered an 88-75 knockout punch to the 7-11 Maroons last Sunday, bumping their UAA conference record up to 4-3. The win came on the heels of a crushing 31-point home loss to Washington University last Friday as the Bears snapped the Judges' four-game winning streak.

Captain Bryan Lambert '05 dominated in the win against Chicago with a dazzling performance, making nine of 12 shots and racking up 24 points. Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 chipped in with 19 points and four assists.

"We had good ball movement and we ran a lot more than we had the last couple of games," Coach Brian Meehan said. "We dictated the pace of the whole game."

The Judges regulated the tempo of the game with nine steals.

"We really tried to stress getting up and down the court, posting more," Lambert said. "We are pretty good moving around the court."

"Everyone stepped up [and] contributed," Graves-Fulgham said. "We all played a good game."

The effort was spread out among the Judges, with Florian Rexhepi '08 scoring 16 points, while Steve DeLuca '08 rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11.

The Judges jumped out to an early lead with a three-pointer by Graves-Fulgham, but Chicago battled back to trail by only two points at halftime.

The second half started with a bang, as Rexhepi dropped a big three-pointer to open the half. This intensity would be matched by the rest of the team as they managed to score 10 points in the first four minutes.

"We methodically built the lead and played very well in the last four or five minutes," Meehan said. "We held the lead and made them run."

Before beating the Maroons, the Judges were run off their own court by the visiting Bears, losing 93-62 on Friday. The Bears are a potent offensive team, and shot almost 60 percent from the floor in routing the Judges.

"They shot the ball very well, and a lot of those were really well defended, but they hit tough shots," Meehan said.

The Judges held the lead until just five minutes into the game when the Bears scored 10 unanswered points, a deficit from which the Judges would not recover. Lambert and DeLuca were the only two Judges to score in double figures, with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

"We settled for a half-court offense, a slower game than we like to play, and Washington defended us well," Lambert said.

The Judges shot poorly, making only 23 of 67 field goals and five of 20 three-point attempts.

"We did not come out too strong," Graves-Fulgham said. "We lost the lead quickly, and they were making all their shots. Our defense was not playing too well."

The Judges play their next five games on the road, starting with Amherst College Tuesday at 7 p.m. Brandeis then embarks on a difficult UAA swing, playing the Bears and the Maroons again this weekend, this time on the road.

"I'll be the least surprised guy in the country if we walk out of [Amherst] with a win," Meehan said. "My goal is to make us the best team in New England.

We are going to go out there and play good basketball.