They were right on the cusp of a tremendous win, but just seconds later, the men's basketball team saw everything slip right out of its grasp. The Judges lost 67-64 to Lasell College in the championship game of the University's annual Tip-Off Tournament, a day after posting an 80-57 blowout against Newbury College in their season-opener.After a three-pointer by forward Steve DeLuca '08 put the Judges up by one point with 17 seconds remaining against Lasell to send the home crowd into a frenzy, a questionable foul call against point guard Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 silenced the Brandeis fans and put Lasell on the foul line with nine seconds to go. A few Judges miscues later and the Lasers paraded out of Gosman with a three-point win.

It was truly a stunning turn of events late in the game for DeLuca and the Judges. Following DeLuca's three pointer, the Judges seemed to have Lasell in a bind by trapping the Lasers 30 feet from the basket on defense and double-teaming Lasell junior guard Maxwell Perez. Then came the game-changing call for slapping on Graves-Fulgham.

Coach Brian Meehan spoke after the game about the call.

"I didn't agree with it," Meehan said. "It was right in front me, and I didn't see it. With nine seconds left and a guy trapped 30 feet from the basket and double-teamed, to call a slapping foul is just wrong."

Perez, who led the Lasers with 21 points and was named tournament MVP, made the two clutch free throws. The Judges regained the ball, but the ensuing possession was equally disastrous. On the inbound play following Lasell's free throws, DeLuca threw the ball to the left side of the floor when the play was called for the right, and Graves-Fulgham missed the pass while running down the sideline. Somehow with the state of chaos on the floor, Rocco Toppi '08 came up with the basketball. However, not knowing how much time was left on the clock due to the confusion on the court, Toppi heaved up a desperation shot from just before half court when there was five seconds left on the clock.

There was just a miscommunication somewhere," Meehan said. "[Toppi] was in the middle of the floor and there was no vision of the scoreboard from where he was, so he just figured that time was running out and threw it up there."

DeLuca was the team leader with 18 points, while Florian Rexhepi '08 added 17 in the contest. Both were named to the all-tournament team.

Also contributing to the Judges' championship-game woes was erratic free throw shooting, including a 1-4 performance from usually reliable guard Joe Coppens '08 down the stretch.

"He is a guy who we have a lot of confidence in shooting free throws and hitting big shots late in games," Meehan said. "Today it just didn't go in for him."

The late-game frenzy spoiled a stunning comeback effort by the Judges. The team was down by 59-51 with just over four minutes left, but managed to overcome the deficit and regain the lead on DeLuca's late three.

However, the Judges had already blown a lead of their own in the second half. After going ahead 47-37 on a 10-0 run with 12:57 remaining, the team began to look tired and the Lasers capitalized with a 13-0 run of their own to go up 53-48 with 7:18 left.

The first half was characterized by tough defense on both sides, as well as cold three-point shooting by the Judges, who were 0-6 from beyond the arc in the half. The trend continued into the second half as the team went 2-11 from long range.

"I think we were settling too much today, just shooting too early in the shot clock," Deluca said. "We should have kept passing it to make their defense work harder."

"It's all about cause and effect," Meehan said. "If we don't rebound and defend, we can't run. We want to pressure on defense, but because our shooting was so poor, we couldn't do that."

On Saturday against Newbury, the Judges were lights out from long range, going 15-31 from beyond the arc. The Judges won that game convincingly by a score of 80-57.

"Some days the shots fall, and there are days when they don't," Meehan said of the Lasell game. "I thought they were good shots, but for some reason the ball didn't go in for us."

One of the biggest changes for this season, and the reason they put up so many three-point shots so far, is because of the loss of Bryan Lambert '05, the Judges' leading scorer, rebounder and low-post presence from last season.

"Without [Lambert] we have much less of a post presence, so we shoot from the outside a lot more," DeLuca said.

In the low post this weekend, Judges' center John Saucier '08 was strong defensively in the tournament with six blocked shots, but struggled on the offensive end with several traveling violations.

"It's all a work in progress," Saucier said of his footwork. "I need to keep working hard at it, and the footwork will continue to improve."

One bright spot for the Judges in the opening round was the play of rookie point guard Huston Conti '09, who scored 12 points against Newbury in his first collegiate game.

"I was a little nervous," Conti said. "But as soon as I got out there and got in the flow of the game, it just all went away."

Meehan said that he believes the team will continue to improve as the season goes along.

"We are not fully developed as a team yet," Meehan said. "We had guys who made poor decisions throughout the game, especially in the second half. With time we'll get older and more experienced."

The Judges will try to bounce back in their third game of the season at Suffolk University on Tuesday.