Even with his team trailing by eight points at halftime at New York University Saturday, with an NCAA tournament bid on the line, men's basketball coach Brian Meehan wasn't very worried. "I was confident because I knew there was no way we were going to shoot as [poorly] as we did in the first half," said Meehan, who only four years ago took over a team that was the laughingstock of its conference.

The Judges didn't let Meehan down in the second half, justifying their coach's confidence with an offensive push and a key defensive stretch to storm back for a 76-67 victory over the Violets, securing their first NCAA tournament bid in 29 years. With the women's basketball team also earning an at-large bid ( See story.), both teams will play in the tournament the same season for the first time in University history.

The Judges will face 21-4 Trinity (Conn.) College in the first round of the tournament Friday at 6 p.m. The game will be played at Rhode Island College in Providence.

It was the Judges' sixth consecutive victory, and the team finished the regular season 19-6 overall and 9-5 in conference play, good for third place. And for Meehan, the season was a return to familiar ways for a coach who four years ago was lured away from the program he built at Salem State College, where had coached his way to the best record among active Division III coaches.

Just three weeks ago, the Judges' tournament chances looked slim. Brandeis suffered a 74-69 home loss to the University of Chicago Feb. 2, in which the team dropped to 3-5 in UAA play while forward Terrell Hollins '10, the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder at the time, was sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken foot. But the Judges have gone undefeated since then in their tournament push, starting with an 81-74 triple-overtime victory at home over this year's UAA champion Washington University in St. Louis Feb. 4.

"It's like a dream come true [to make the tournament]," point guard Andre Roberson '10 said. "It means so much to the program. We knew we could do it all along, and now, I still can't believe it."

After taking over for the former coach Chris Ford four years ago, Meehan has undoubtedly transformed the program, and now, three years after the arrival of his initial and elite recruiting class ( "Young Guns", Nov. 16, 2004) the coach has led the team where he said he would.

"We felt all along where we could build a program where we were one of the best teams in New England and one of the better teams in the country," Meehan said. "Making the tournament validates all of that, and it means so much to the athletic department and the student body."

Like they have done so many times this season, the Judges' reserves, particularly guards Roberson and Kevin Olson '09, made vital contributions Saturday. Roberson led Brandeis with 17 points, including 10-13 from the free throw line, and Olson added 12 points, all in the second half. Starting point guard Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 added 15 points and seven rebounds, as the Judges overcame a lackluster nine-point performance from Steve DeLuca '08, the team's leading scorer at 14.8 points coming into the game.

"The way we play, anybody can be 'the guy' on a certain day," Meehan said. "It often is just the matter of someone like Roberson or Olson getting the hot hand."

The Judges hit only five of their first 25 shots Saturday and trailed 29-16 after Violets junior center Michael Magee's layup with four minutes remaining in the half. Center Rich McGee's '10 tip-in at the first-half buzzer cut NYU's lead to 34-26.

In the second half, the Violets stretched their lead to nine points before the Judges made their move, tying the game at 40 with 13:11 remaining.

Five and a half minutes later, with NYU leading 51-50, Brandeis seized the momentum. After Roberson missed a jumper, Violets junior guard Charlie Parker grabbed the rebound and took the ball coast-to-coast for the layup to give NYU a three-point lead with 7:35 remaining. During the play, Violets senior center Jason Boone, in an attempt to put back a potential miss, hung on the rim long enough to draw a technical foul. Olson hit the two technical free throws for the Judges, starting Brandeis on a 14-5 run over the next several minutes. The Violets didn't make a field goal during that stretch.

"[Boone's technical foul] took a lot of energy out of the [NYU] crowd," Roberson said. "Their facial expressions gave us a lot of momentum, because we knew we had them where we wanted them at that time."

Forward Joe Coppens '08 hit a jumper to give the Judges a 66-58 lead with 2:04 remaining, and NYU got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

DeLuca dominated with 26 points in the Judges' first matchup with NYU-a 52-48 win Jan. 13-but the Judges' reserves fueled their second-half run Saturday. Roberson and Olson combined to score 25 of the Judges' 50 second-half points, with Roberson scoring 13 and Olson notching 12.

"Lots of our starters were in foul trouble, so it was huge that our bench was able to step in there yesterday," DeLuca said.