The men's basketball team was feeling some pressure heading into its road game against Framingham State on Saturday, but turned that pressure into an effective pressure defense that stifled the Rams 76-62. The Judges forced 16 first-half turnovers, 25 overall, on their way to victory. Point guard Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 had a game-high 19 points for the Judges and shot 5-6 from three-point range, while forward Steve DeLuca '08 finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. The Judges improved to 5-3 on the season with the victory.

The win followed a heartbreaking 78-69 loss to the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth on Thursday and a 69-48 win against Clark University in Worcester on Tuesday.

The Judges have been trying to play a fast-break, up-tempo style of basketball all season long, and full-court pressure defense essentially from start to finish on Saturday helped key the fast break.

"That's just what we are going to need to do," coach Brian Meehan said. "We've been struggling in our half-court offense, so we just feel that we have to keep the pace of the game up by pressuring, since that gives us an opportunity to score some baskets in transition."

Steve Hill '08 added that the Judges' lack of big men makes it hard to play half-court.

"Without a real big scoring presence in the post, it puts an even bigger emphasis on running up and down and creating easy baskets," he said.

Despite its success, the team's defense also led to turnover troubles for the Judges as well, as the team's 15 turnovers in the second half allowed Framingham State back into the game. However, Brandeis' offense took over and eventually pushed the lead back up to as much as 23.

"When you are really trying to force tempo, you're going to turn the ball over a little bit more," Meehan said. "We were just really sloppy with some of our passes. We jumped out to an early lead, and our guys kind of relaxed a little bit when we had the ball."

Turnovers in late-game situations have hurt the team before this season.

In the Dartmouth game, the Judges cut a 14-point second-half deficit against Dartmouth to just three points with 5:34 remaining, but two late turnovers prevented them from getting any closer.

"It was something we are not going to get back," Florian Rexhepi '08 said of the Dartmouth game. "We weren't prepared mentally, and [Dartmouth] played pretty hard."

Graves-Fulgham's play at the point was encouraging for the Judges, as the guard had struggled up to that point in the season due to knee tendonitis.

"The last week or so his knees were starting to feel better," Meehan said of Graves-Fulgham. "He was jumping well on Saturday, and he shot the ball with a lot of confidence."

After winning two games on the road, the Judges have another hard test with their showdown on the road this Tuesday at Colby Sawyer.

"It's a really tough place to play and they don't lose many games there," Meehan said of Colby Sawyer. "We are going to have to play our best game to this point to come out of there with a win.