With the men's basketball team trailing 62-60 at the University of Chicago last Sunday, guard Joe Coppens '08 buried a three-pointer to give Brandeis a one-point lead with five minutes, 55 seconds left in regulation. That advantage proved to be short-lived, however, as Brandeis was held scoreless over the next four minutes of play.As the Brandeis offense struggled down the stretch, Chicago went on a 12-3 run to close-out the game and hand the Judges a 74-66 defeat.

"We had the shots that we usually make, but we couldn't connect," forward Christian Yemga '11 said. "We could have put the game away when we were up .we just couldn't score in the last minute of the game."

Still, Brandeis earned a much-needed split this weekend, topping Washington University in St. Louis 68-66 last Friday. The win was the Judges' first in St. Louis during head coach Brian Meehan's five-year tenure with the team, and it also snapped a 24-game home winning streak for the Bears.

Brandeis stands at 19-5 on the season and 9-4 in University Athletic Association play, good for second place in the conference behind Wash U and Chicago, who are both 10-3 in the league. The loss to Chicago eliminated the Judges from a shot at the UAA title.

"Right now [this weekend] is more of a disappointment," assistant coach Eric McKoy said. "The guys were really looking forward to winning [against Chicago]. If we had won we would have stayed tied for the league title, now we're out of the hunt. It was one of our goals to win the UAA this year and we had a shot to do it."

Still, with one game left in the regular season, the Judges are in good position to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, as a win over New York University next Sunday would give them a better mark in UAA play than they had last season to go along with wins over No. 1 Amherst College, Wash U, and No. 15 University of Rochester. The Judges reached the second round last year before losing to Rhode Island College during their first tournament appearance in 29 years.

The first half against Chicago featured seven lead changes and four ties, and Brandeis held a 39-36 advantage at the break. But the Judges' offensive performance faltered after the break, as they converted only 10 of 31 field goals, including just one of 14 from three-point range.

Brandeis stayed in the game late into the second half, but after Coppens hit the three-pointer to briefly put the Judges ahead 63-62 with 5:55 to play, Chicago was able to come up with a number of timely shots to put them away.

With 3:57 left, Maroon junior guard Matt Corning hit a jump shot to give Chicago a 64-63 lead, and with just over two minutes left, Chicago sophomore guard Jake Pancratz sank a three-pointer to give the Maroons an insurmountable four-point advantage.

"That was the turning point in the game. By them getting that three it put them up by four rather than up by three, so we had to hit a quick shot to try to keep the game close," McKoy said.

With guards Joe Coppens '08 and Kevin Olson having an off-game shooting, combining for just 15 points on six of 24 from the field, Brandeis relied on forwards Stephen Hill '08 and Terrell Hollins '10 to provide the offense. The duo combined for 39 points and 16 rebounds, including a career-high 21 points from Hill.

"I'd rather not score and have us win, but at the same time, within the game, you have personal things you want to do [and] it's always good when you play to the best of your abilities," Hill said.

Hill and Hollins were able to take advantage of mismatches in the paint, and as a result, Brandeis went an entire 13-minute stretch in the first half in between making shots outside the paint.

"We knew their big guys weren't the strongest in the league. We wanted to attack them and we had success doing that," Hill said. "We had some put backs on the glass [and Hollins] did a great job of scoring when we got him the ball down low."

Against Wash U, Brandeis was able to effectively neutralize star senior forward Troy Ruths, who came into the game averaging 18.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Ruths scored the final eight points in Wash U's come-from-behind 71-69 win at Brandeis Jan. 27, but was limited to just 13 points and three rebounds in the rematch last Friday.

McKoy credited Hill's defense in shutting Ruths down. Ruths was continually unable to get to the basket, and was forced to take primarily jump shots and fadeaways.

"Hill did a tremendous job on him. He played him physical [and] tight, he didn't give him much space," McKoy said.

Brandeis and Wash U played to a 28-28 tie in the first half, but a three-pointer from WashU sophomore forward Cameron Smith gave the Bears a 49-42 lead with 12:56 remaining. Brandeis was able to chip away at the deficit, tying the game at 53 on an Olson three-pointer with 7:48 remaining.

With the game tied at 62 with 2:07 left, Hollins was double-teamed in the lane and kicked the ball out to guard Andre Roberson '10, who buried a three pointer from the right wing to give Brandeis a 65-62 lead. Roberson then hit the team's final three free throws down the stretch as the Judges held on for the win.

Coppens and Olson had 17 and 13 points, respectively, in the win, while Roberson added 13, including the final six Brandeis points.

Brandeis finishes the regular season Saturday against NYU at 3 p.m., a team they defeated 66-56 Jan. 12. Seniors Coppens, Hill, injured forward Steve DeLuca '08 guards Kwame-Graves Fulgham '08 and Florian Rexhepi '08 and center John Saucier '08 will be honored during the festivities.