Amid the backdrop of celebration by fourth-ranked Washington University in St. Louis' players, the men's basketball team, heads sunk to the floor, left the court knowing they had surrendered a sizable second-half lead for the second straight contest.Now, after losing their last three University Athletic Association games by a combined 10 points, the Judges have falled from No. 2 to No. 9 in the latest D3hoops.com rankings.

Led by senior center Troy Ruths, the Bears overcame a seven-point deficit in the last minute and a half to stun the No. 2 Judges 71-69 last Sunday, two days after unranked University of Chicago also overcame a seven-point deficit in the last 9 minutes, 42 seconds to win 79-77. The Judges fell to 12-4 on the season and 2-3 in University Athletic Association play.

Following last Sunday's loss, coach Brian Meehan said star forward Steve DeLuca '08 will miss the rest of the season with back and hamstring ailments (see story, page 16).

"It takes a little bit of a hit [on our confidence]," guard Joe Coppens '08 said. "Two teams come in at home and you're excited to finally get a couple of home games after a month and a half of road games and it really stinks to drop two."

The Judges started its conference schedule with victories over New York University Jan. 12 and Carnegie Mellon University Jan. 18.

Two free throws from point guard Kwame-Graves Fulgham '08 capped a 10-2 run that gave the Judges a 69-62 lead over WashU with just 1:39 remaining last Sunday, but WashU was able to close out the game with a 9-0 run, as Ruths scored the final eight points.

"We didn't finish the game out the right way. We made bad decisions," coach Brian Meehan said. "[We kept] fouling them, giving up three-point plays instead of two. We've got the lead, [on] possessions alone they're going to have to foul us. We did everything wrong in the last minute and 30 seconds."

After junior forward Tyler Nading hit his first free-throw attempt to cut the Judges lead to 69-63, he missed his second. On the rebound, the ball bounced off a Brandeis player and went out of bounds, allowing WashU to retain possession. Six seconds later, sophomore guard Ross Kelley found Ruths underneath the basket, bringing the Bears to within four points.

On the ensuing Brandeis possession, guard Kevin Olson '09 turned the ball over after breaking the Bears' full-court pressure. Senior guard Danny O'Boyle missed a three-point attempt, but Ruths grabbed the offensive rebound and scored a layup while drawing a foul to cut the Judges' lead to 69-68 with 1:12 left. Brandeis failed to score on its possession, taking 34 seconds before guard Andre Roberson '10 missed a 15-foot jumper from the right corner.

"That probably would have put the game away, but you can't fault [Roberson]; he makes those shots in crunch time every single time we need him," Coppens said.

With 16 seconds left, Ruths capitalized on another traditional three-point play to give WashU the lead for good. After catching the ball inside, Ruths spun right and banked his shot off the glass as forward Rich Magee '10 fouled him.

"I think [those three-point plays] were the turning point of the game," forward Christian Yemga '11 said. "It was a mental mistake and we didn't stop them when we were supposed to stop them."

Brandeis had 16 seconds to score, and Coppens had a chance at a game-winning three-pointer, but his fadeaway shot fell short, and Nading grabbed the rebound as the clock expired.

"I saw that Nading was covering me [and] he was lagging behind me a little bit. I saw an opening and took it and didn't get enough on it," Coppens said. "It's a shot I'd take again if I had it."

Ruths said WashU guessed Brandeis' late-game play.

"We knew they were going to be running something for [Coppens]," he said. "He definitely had the hot hand and he's a great player. We just looked for that flare pick and we guarded it real hard. I think we knew what they were doing."

Ruths had 25 points, 19 coming in the second half, and 12 rebounds for the Bears. Graves-Fulgham led the Judges in scoring with 18 points, while Olson, Coppens and Hollins followed with 12, 11 and 10, respectively.

While Brandeis was able to out-rebound Wash U 36-28, including 12-5 on the offensive end, hit more free throws than WashU, and hold the Bears to just 39 percent shooting from the field in the second half, the Judges were plagued by foul trouble all game. Forwards Stephen Hill '08, Yemga and Magee all fouled out of the game, and forward Terrell Hollins '10, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, was limited to just 17 minutes of action with four fouls himself.

Brandeis also built a seven-point lead against Chicago Friday and couldn't hold on for the win. Coppens electrified the crowd with 12 consecutive points on three three-pointers and three foul shots to erase a 51-45 Chicago lead with 12:26 remaining, but Brandeis was unable to rebound effectively down the stretch.

"We had a hard enough time stopping them on their first possession and then you don't get the rebound [and they're able to reset their offense]," Meehan said last Friday. "We put ourselves in a bad position all game long. We didn't guard well or rebound well."

The Maroons took the lead for good on a rare four-point play from junior guard Matt Corning, who finished with a game-high 27 points. The three-pointer and free throw put the Maroons ahead 70-67 with 4:29 remaining.

Chicago built a five-point lead with 1:01 left, but Roberson hit a three-pointer to cut the advantage to two points with nine seconds remaining. The Judges fouled sophomore point guard Jake Pancratz, who missed two free-throws, giving the Judges one last chance to tie the game. But after Hollins caught a long pass, Brandeis was unable to get a shot off with three seconds left.

Brandeis looks to snap its three-game skid next weekend with road games against Emory University Friday at 8 p.m. and Case Western Reserve University Sunday at noon.