With the men's basketball team on its way to a win over Carnegie Mellon University last Sunday, forward Stephen Hill '08 found himself alone underneath the basket with nine seconds remaining, much like he did at the end of the Judges' win over top-ranked Amherst College Dec. 8. In that game, Hill opted for the simple layup, but this time, he took a lob pass from guard Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 and emphatically dunked it, clinching a crucial 2-0 weekend for the Judges that put them back in the race for a conference title. "I told [Graves-Fulgham], 'I got to get a dunk before the year is over; you got to look for me'," Hill said last Sunday. "[Graves-Fulgham] looked me in the eyes because my man was in front of me and so I just ran and I actually didn't see him throw it. I looked up and the ball was over my head; I just caught it and I didn't really have time to think because he threw it so fast."

The highlight-reel play was the exclamation point in the Judges' weekend sweep, as they narrowly edged No. 6 University of Rochester 68-64 last Friday before holding on for an 84-81 win over Carnegie Mellon last Sunday. They are now tied for second-place in the University Athletic Association with the University of Chicago at 8-3 in the UAA, just one game behind first-place Washington University in St. Louis. Brandeis, now 18-4 overall, will play both Chicago and Wash U on the road next weekend.

"[The victories were] huge. It put us right back at the top of the league again," guard Joe Coppens '08 said. "We're going to Wash U [Friday] for a tie for first place, it's a huge game and [this weekend] put us in a position we wanted to be in all year."

Much like their Feb. 8 overtime win over Emory University, the Judges needed to rally to defeat Carnegie Mellon. The Tartans went on an 18-5 run in the first half, turning a 22-19 Brandeis advantage into a 37-27 lead with five minutes, 35 seconds remaining.

After the Judges cut the deficit to 43-40 by halftime, the Tartans built a 55-47 lead early in the second half, but Brandeis again battled back with a 13-5 run to briefly reclaimed a 60-59 lead with 9:28 left.

Carnegie Mellon had a 70-69 lead with 5:01 remaining, but it would be their last advantage. Like so many times this season, the Judges came up big down the stretch, taking the lead for good on the next possession when Hill hit a mid-range jumper, and despite two three-pointers from Carnegie Mellon senior forward Greg Gonzalez in the last eight seconds of play, Brandeis held on for the narrow victory. They are now 7-2 in games decided by less than five points and overtime this season.

"I thought we were sluggish in the first half, but I thought in the second half our energy and our defense picked up quite a bit," coach Brian Meehan said.

With 12:58 left in the game, Coppens became the 26th member of the men's basketball program's 1,000-point club when he sank two free throws. He finished with a game-high 23 points and now sits in 24th place on the all-time list with 1,007 career points.

"It feels good. It's something I can hold onto for a while after my career is over," Coppens said. "Coming into the weekend I knew I was close [but] I don't know my point total during the game, so I heard it [announced] over the loud speaker and that's when I realized it."

After Coppens hit his second free-throw attempt, five members of the baseball team, standing in the front row of "The Jury" student section, removed their shirts and combined to form "1,000!" across their stomachs. Their backs spelled out "JOEY #5," in reference to Coppens' jersey number.

The win over Carnegie Mellon followed a key 68-64 win over No. 6 Rochester. When the two teams last played Jan. 20, they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the D3hoops.com poll, respectively, and the Yellowjackets came away with a 74-68 win.

Like they did in the teams' first game, Rochester mystified the Judges with a zone defense that turned a 23-10 deficit into a 28-27 halftime advantage. In the second half, the two teams went back-and forth, with seven lead changes and four ties, but the Judges took the lead for good with 2:45 left to play when guard Andre Roberson '10 fed guard Kevin Olson '09, who drove for a layup to give the Judges a 61-59 advantage. Roberson added a jumper on Brandeis' next possession, and the Yellowjackets got no closer than three points the rest of the way.

Olson led the way with 20 points, scoring eight straight for the Judges from 9:18 to 7:58 in the second half. Each of Olson's scores during the run erased a tie or a deficit.

"I definitely felt a rhythm; I had a lot of opportunities to score. We really felt like we attacked [Rochester's] wing players. I had a good first half against them at their place; I just wanted to be aggressive the whole game," Olson said.

One key to the victory was free-throw shooting. The Judges hit 13 of their 17 foul shots, while Rochester was just 12 of 23 from the stripe, highlighted by senior forward Uche Ndubizu's 2 for 9 performance.

"Down the stretch, hitting the free throws were key. It helps us out a lot because we were able to do what we wanted to do on defense-being aggressive, and put their big guys on the foul line," assistant coach Eric McKoy said.

Rochester head coach Mike Neer also said the Judges eventually figured out the zone defense, thanks to Graves-Fulgham, who had eight assists, and Roberson, who gave the Yellowjackets problems despite hitting just two of his 10 field goals.

"Brandeis has active guards and their two point guards, Graves-Fulgham and Roberson, are quicker than what we have. We need to negate some of their quickness," Neer said. "We don't play a lot of zone and we were forced to play more zone than we wanted to and eventually Brandeis found some holes in it."

The Judges have won six games in a row, but their biggest test comes this weekend when they hit the road looking to avenge their home losses to Chicago Jan. 25 and Wash U Jan. 27. They will play Wash U Friday at 8 p.m. and Chicago Sunday at noon, and the importance of this weekend was not lost on Meehan.

"It's a huge weekend for us," he said. "Our aspirations are to get in the tournament and host games. If we want to do that we have to take care of business.