PLATTSBURGH, NY-After every practice this season, members of the men's basketball team ran six sprints, representing the number of NCAA tournament victories needed for a Division III championship. In the end, although their tournament run was the longest in school history, the Judges fell three victories and two rounds shy of that goal.

No. 5 Brandeis fell to No. 3 Amherst College 65-55 in the Round of Eight last Saturday, one night after defeating host No. 7 State University in New York at Plattsburgh 74-63 in the Round of 16. A win over Amherst would have sent the Judges to Salem, VA for the Final Four, but instead, they finished the season 23-6.

"We were devastated after the game was over," forward Stephen Hill '08 said. "I don't want to say you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone-because we knew all along we had something special-but it kind of hit home how much I was going to miss playing with guys like Joey [Coppens '08], [John Saucier '08], Flo [Rexhepi '08], and Kwame [Graves-Fulgham '08]."

Still, the team's 23 wins were a school record, and this season marked the first time in the program's history that the Judges advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. They accomplished those feats without injured forward Steve DeLuca '08, a two-time all-University Athletic Association first-team selection, for all but two games this season.

"From this point forward, every [Brandeis] team is going to be measured to this team," coach Brian Meehan told reporters last Saturday. "Everyone is going to have to set the bar to [this team] and achieve beyond [them]."

Brandeis held a 29-24 lead at the half against Amherst last Saturday, but did not score a single point over a 9 minute, 26 second stretch in the second half, combining for 13 missed shots, three missed free throws and six turnovers during that span. Meanwhile, Amherst went on a 17-0 run to take a 49-36 lead with 9:38 remaining.

Amherst senior center Kevin Hopkins dunked the ball to give the Lord Jeffs the lead for good with 15:03 remaining, and junior forward Brandon Jones and Hopkins followed with dunks on Amherst's next two possessions to increase its lead to 42-36.

"It was like a wave-the first [dunk] sort of got us started in the second half. When the second one happened and then when the third one happened, all of a sudden our guys truly believed [we could win]," Amherst coach Dave Hixon told reporters last Saturday.

Brandeis cut the deficit to 56-49 with 3:33 left on two free throws from Coppens, but was not able to inch any closer.

The Judges hit just 22 of their 72 field goal attempts, including just five of their 23 three-pointers. Amherst's defense disrupted Brandeis' rhythm throughout the game, blocking 12 shots and altering several others.

In the post-game press conference, Hixon suggested the Judges were tired after their hard-fought 74-63 win over Plattsburgh State in the Round of 16 the night before. Hill, however, disagreed.

"You're either ready to play or you're not, and you can't use something like being fatigued as an excuse," he said. "It was an opportunity against one of our top rivals to go to the Final Four. If your legs are a little tired, you've got to find a way to get up on adrenaline or something else."

In last Friday's win over Plattsburgh State, guard Andre Roberson '10 scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half to lead Brandeis to a 39-30 halftime edge. But Brandeis had a similar second-half offensive struggle, allowing Plattsburgh State to tie the score at 56 with 4:46 remaining on senior forward Travis Gorham's layup.

Brandeis answered on the next possession when guard Kevin Olson '09 stepped back and drained a three-pointer, giving the Judges a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

"The whole game I was trying to look for an open shot. Finally I got a good look coming off a ball screen and went underneath it and just wanted to take [the shot] when it was open. Thankfully it went down for me," Olson told reporters after the game.

Two possessions later, Coppens took a pass from Graves-Fulgham, faked and hit a three-pointer of his own from the right corner, increasing the lead to 64-58 and silencing the Plattsburgh State crowd.

Meehan took a risk with 12:28 left in the second half, returning Graves-Fulgham to the game even though he had four fouls from trying to stop all-American senior guard Anthony Williams. The plan worked, and while Williams scored 28 points during the game, he was neutralized down the stretch when the Judges switched to a zone defense.

"[Roberson] was playing a lot of minutes, and we felt at that time we needed a senior on the floor to handle the ball. At that point we were just hoping [Graves-Fulgham] would go in and settle it down and he did exactly that and stayed away from picking up a fifth foul," Meehan told reporters last Friday.

The loss to Amherst marked the end of the college careers of Coppens, Hill, Graves-Fulgham, Rexhepi and Saucier. DeLuca, the team's sixth senior, will return next season after applying for a medical redshirt.

"[We were] saying good-bye to a group of seniors that helped to recreate our program. That would have happened whether we had won or lost-at some point we were going to play our last game with these guys. and that's an emotional time," Meehan said last Saturday.