With the men's basketball team holding on to a 27-24 lead at New York University last Saturday, forward Terrell Hollins '10 wrestled the ball away from the hands of Violets junior guard Zachary Kuba before converting a layup at the other end of the court with 1 minute remaining in the first half.Thirty seconds later, guard Kenny Small '10 sank a three-point shot to give the Judges an 8-point lead heading into halftime. Brandeis never looked back, earning a decisive 63-44 win in its regular season finale.

"To go on a run like that [gave us] great momentum going into halftime. It helped us out a lot," assistant coach Eric McKoy said.

Brandeis concluded the regular season with a 17-8 record. The Judges' 10-4 record in University Athletic Association play trails only No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis in conference standings.

The Judges will now travel to Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, where they will take on the University of Scranton.

With the score tied at two last Saturday, Brandeis and NYU played to a stalemate for the first 17 minutes of action. There were eight lead changes and six ties during this stretch of play.

Hollins broke the deadlock, hitting three out of four free-throw attempts in a 40 second period, fueling the 8-0 run for the Judges at the end of the half.

A three-pointer from forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) pushed the lead to 41-30 6 1/2 minutes into the second half. A layup from NYU sophomore guard D.J. Glavan 2 minutes later cut the deficit to 41-34, but the Violets would not be able to get any closer.

Over the next 4 minutes, Brandeis went on a 12-2 run as guard Kevin Olson '09 sank three three-pointers, while Small added another three-pointer of his own.

"NYU plays their style; they slow it down. It feels like every hoop is a big hoop, and if you can get some threes in a row, you can really break their backs," Olson said.

Leading 53-36 with just under 7 minutes left, the Judges cruised to an eventual 19-point victory.

"It just shows that if we play our game, we come out with energy and effort, we can do a lot of great things," McKoy said.

Olson led the way with 21 points, including hitting five of six three-point shots. Olson has converted 59.7 percent of his three-pointers this season, which leads all divisions of men's NCAA basketball. He has hit 65 percent of his threes in 14 conference games.

Small added 14 points, while DeLuca had 13 points and nine rebounds. Guard Andre Roberson '10 was held scoreless for the first time this season, but matched a season-high with 10 assists.

With just five points, six rebounds, and two steals, Hollins might not have stood out on the stat sheet, but McKoy was impressed with his effort.

"Even if [Hollins] is not scoring, we need that energy, we need that effort from him," McKoy said. "When he's playing his good basketball, we're good . he came out and gave us a great effort on the defensive end today."

Brandeis has held NYU to just 79 combined points and 31 percent shooting in two meetings this season, both Brandeis victories.

"They don't play a high scoring game, so it's a little inflated in that sense, [but] we really want to limit them to one shot and make them take tough, contested shots," Olson said.

The Judges end the regular season on a five-game winning streak, their third such streak of the season. During this run, Olson, DeLuca, and Small have combined for 242 points, representing 63.4 percent of the team's offensive output.

DeLuca said the team is currently playing its best basketball of the season.

"[Olson, Small] and I right now are playing really well together," DeLuca said. "It's very hard for teams to stop us. If you stop only two of us, the other guy is going to hit some shots."

The team will play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night at 6 p.m.