With just under 12 minutes to go Saturday in the championship game of the annual Tip-Off tournament, the men's basketball team was locked in a 42-42 duel with visiting Springfield College. Then, point guard Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 found an opening in the Pride's defense."They were overplaying me, so I just crossed it over, saw the lane open up and took it all the way to the hoop," Graves-Fulgham said.

His timely three-point play ignited a suffocating full-court defense that fueled a game-ending 48-21 run, as the Judges throttled Springfield 90-63. Brandeis defeated Newbury College 73-60 Friday to reach the championship game, and Graves-Fulgham won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award after notching a career-high 11 assists to go along with eight points, four rebounds and three steals in Saturday's triumph.

Shooting guard Florian Rexhepi '08-another member of the all-tournament team-led four Judges scoring in double figures with 15 points. Forward Steve DeLuca '08 added 14 points despite struggling with foul trouble, and rookie Terrell Hollins '10 notched 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds off the bench.

"Overall, we did a great job," coach Brian Meehan said.

"We hung in there in the first half and really turned up the pressure in the second half."

After Graves-Fulgham sliced through the Pride defense late in the game, the Judges went to a full-court press and put the game out of reach with a 17-2 run. Rexhepi hit two consecutive three-pointers and Andre Roberson '10 nailed two free throws to push the lead to 55-42. DeLuca then stripped Pride senior guard Jamaal Gibbs and went in for a two-handed dunk to push the lead to 59-44 with 8:25 remaining.

"The speed of the game caught up to them," Meehan said.

"We're pretty athletic, and they got tired because they had a short bench."

The Judges forced 21 Springfield turnovers in the game, five of which came during the decisive 17-2 run.

"They did not know how to break our press," Rexhepi said.

Springfield hung with the hosts throughout most of the game. The Pride started off on a 7-0 run before Brandeis responded with an 11-0 run of its own. Springfield fought back to take a 33-26 lead before Graves-Fulgham and Rexhepi nailed three-pointers to cut the deficit to 33-32 when halftime arrived.

"We didn't play defense well in the first half and that hurt our ability to run the fast break," Rexhepi said.

"We were playing their tempo rather than them playing our tempo."

Guard Joe Coppens '08 led Brandeis with 17 points against Newbury Friday, 13 in the first half. Graves-Fulgham added 15 for the Judges, who won despite a mere four points from DeLuca, last season's leading scorer.

DeLuca said he was not mentally prepared for Friday.

"I was anxious, nervous and excited all at the same time, and I just couldn't get into a groove," he said.

"Luckily, my teammates were able to pick up the slack."

Brandeis led just 19-18 with 8:59 left in the first half, but erupted on a 15-0 run to take control. Coppens hit two threes and guard Kevin Olson '09 added another during the stretch. Newbury cut the lead to 39-32 at halftime, but a 20-5 Brandeis run to start the second half put the game out of reach.

Despite the win, Meehan was disappointed that the Judges lost the rebounding battle, 38-32.

"We didn't rebound at all; we were awful with that," he said.

"They were getting all the loose balls because they worked harder than we did. A lot of our guys were caught watching."

Meehan highlighted rookie play in the tournament. Center Rich McGee '10 started both games, and Hollins and guards Roberson and Kenny Small '10 contributed off the bench. Hollins paced the Judges in rebounding both games, and Small showed explosive scoring ability with 10 points in only seven minutes of action against Springfield.

"[Hollins] and [Small] both played really well," Meehan said.

"They showed signs of great potential."

The Judges host two games this week, against Suffolk University Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and then Tufts University Sunday at 3 p.m.