LANCASTER, Pa.-With less than two seconds left in the men's basketball team's second-round NCAA Tournament game against Franklin & Marshall College, forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) grabbed a rebound off point guard Andre Roberson's '10 missed jump shot near the free-throw line. The Judges had rallied from a 57-37 deficit with 9 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second half and now trailed by just two points, with one final chance left to complete an improbable rally.

But DeLuca's fadeaway jump shot hit the front of the rim as time expired, cementing a 65-63 Diplomats victory that sent the Judges home from the NCAA Tournament two rounds earlier than they departed last season.

"If I knew I had a couple of seconds left, I would have turned and faced [the basket] instead of just shooting it," DeLuca told reporters after the game.

In their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Judges beat Scranton 74-60 last Friday in the opening round, before losing to Franklin & Marshall the following night. Brandeis finished the season at 18-9.

The Judges trailed by 13 at halftime and by 20 in the second half but nearly pulled off the improbable comeback, cutting the deficit to 64-63 with 90 seconds left.

On Franklin & Marshall's next possession, Roberson blocked a shot with one minute left, but DeLuca missed a jump shot on the other end of the court that would have given Brandeis the lead. After Franklin & Marshall hit one of two free throw shots, the Judges, trailing by two with 24.8 seconds left, received another opportunity to either tie or win the game.

Roberson slowly advanced the ball up the court before both he and DeLuca missed their last-second shot attempts.

"With all that we went through at the end of that game when we really needed it, we came up with two huge defensive stops," Franklin & Marshall head coach Glenn Robinson told reporters after the game.

Franklin & Marshall built an early 11-1 lead in the first four minutes of play and went into the half up 37-24. The Judges cut the lead to eight at 42-34 with a three-pointer from guard Kevin Olson '09 with 14:35 left, but the Diplomats responded with a 15-3 run over the next five minutes to push their advantage to 20.

"For whatever reason, early in the game we just didn't stick [with the game plan]," head coach Brian Meehan told reporters. "We got a little frustrated when shots weren't falling; . [we] started breaking plays off, doing too much one-one-one standing around."

Forwards Christian Yemga '11 and Terrell Hollins '10 both fouled out within a 15-second span in the 10th minute of the second half, leaving the Judges with a limited rotation.

Still, Brandeis started to chip away, going on a 13-1 run to cut Franklin & Marshall's lead 58-50 with just over six minutes left. After Franklin & Marshall extended its lead to 64-52 with 3:17 to go, the Judges went on an 11-0 run, which included three consecutive three-pointers from Olson, guard Kenny Small '10 and DeLuca.

Brandeis used a full-court press that helped limit Franklin & Marshall to just eight points in its final 19 possessions. Over this stretch, Franklin & Marshall had seven turnovers and one field goal and shot only six of 13 from the free-throw line.

Even so, Franklin & Marshall held on for the two-point win.

"We weren't doing the things we needed to do on defense and handling their press well," Franklin & Marshall junior guard Clay Scovill told reporters after the game. "I think we got our focus back and made the plays at the end of the game that we needed to."

DeLuca and Olson led the way with 21 and 13 points, respectively, in their final collegiate games.

Against Scranton, there were 10 lead changes and four ties in the first half, but a Small three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Judges a 37-31 lead at the half.

Brandeis twice extended its lead to as many as 18 points before cruising to a 14-point win. Small had 19 points, with DeLuca adding 16 and Hollins scoring 14 off the bench.

DeLuca, a three-time first-team all-UAA performer, ended his career as the program's fifth-all time leading scorer with 1,595 points, while Olson shot 58.9 percent from three-point range this season, the sixthhighest percentage in Division III history.

"[DeLuca and Olson] took advantage of all the opportunities Brandeis offers academically and athletically and that's what you hope for in players," Meehan told reporters. "They love to play the game and they get better and better because they work hard at improving themselves."

The Judges dropped their first three games this season, and their place in the NCAA Tournament was not secured until they won their final five UAA games.

"We had a good run at the end [of the season], and we really came together and started playing a lot better," Meehan told reporters. "Your whole season matters; that's the point we try to make to the guys."

"You end up . seven hours away from home [in the tournament] because you blow three games early in the year because you didn't prepare well in the preseason," he added.