Waltham, Mass., January 23, 2011 – Senior Spencer Gay poured in a career-high 23 points to propel the Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team to a 70-36 victory over No. 21 Brandeis University in University Athletic Association (UAA) action on Sunday, Jan. 23, at Auerbach Arena in Watham, Mass.

Gay hit his first six shots of the second half to help Washington University stretch an 11-point halftime cushion into an insurmountable 21-point lead with eight minutes to play in the game.

Gay ended his second-half run of six-straight makes when freshman Alan Aboona found him along the baseline for a back-door lay-up with 8:30 to play to give the Bears a 54-36 lead. Senior Caleb Knepper drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to extend the WUSTL advantage to 21 points.

From there the Bears' defense took over as Washington University held Brandeis without a point for the final 8:42 of the game. Brandeis missed its final 13 shots of the game and turned the ball over three times during its prolonged scoreless stretch. The Judges made just five field goals in the second half and finished the game shooting just 24.1 percent.

Conversely Washington University was on fire offensively in the second half, shooting 63.6 percent and turning the ball over just five times. The 52.7 team shooting percentage was the Bears' second-best shooting performance of the season.

Junior Dylan Richter finished the game with nine points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven assists while sophomore Ben Hoener scored nine points and dished out six assists in the win. Washington U. finished with a 39-31 edge on the glass and outscored Brandeis 50-14 in the paint.

In the first half Washington University dominated the painted area and created a number of quality transition opportunities with high-pressure defense, outscoring Brandeis 26-8 in the paint while holding a 12-3 edge in points off turnovers.

The Bears created 10 Brandeis turnovers in the first half and scored 84 percent of their points in the paint, hitting just one three-pointer, as they built a 33-22 lead at the half.

Gay tallied eight points in the first half while sophomore Robert Burnett came off the bench to score six and Richter led all scorers with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting including the Bears' only trey of the opening half.

Washington University used an 11-2 run to break an early 12-12 tie and the Red and Green led by as many as 13 points in the first half. Richter's three came midway through the period and provided the Bears with a 21-14 lead.

Just 20 seconds later freshman Tim Cooney stripped Ben Bartoldus at the top of the key and sprinted down for an easy lay-up that resulted in a nine-point WUSTL advantage.

The Bears dominated the glass, outrebounding Brandeis 20-11 through 20 minutes of play while holding the Judges to just .375 percent (9-of-24) from the field. Brandeis has now lost three of its last four games and the 34-point setback marked its largest loss of the year; the Judges other two losses were also in UAA action and were by a combined four points.

Washington University (8-8, 2-3 UAA) returns to action on Friday, Jan. 28, when it welcomes Carnegie Mellon University to the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Mo., at 8 p.m.

Bear Notebook: Washington U. has won 65 of its last 69 games when leading at the half … Washington University now leads the all-time series with Brandeis, 36-9, and the Bears have won four of the last five meetings … Washington U. had lost six-straight road games heading into the weekend but won at New York University and Brandeis in a span of three days.