CHICAGO, Ill. -- A season high five different Brandeis men's basketball players scored in double figures tonight as the Judges defeated the University of Chicago, 71-63, in a University Athletic Association contest. With the win, their first road win in league play this season, the Judges improve to 16-7, 6-6 in the UAA. Chicago falls to 8-15, 5-7 UAA. Brandeis sweeps the season series from UC for the second year in a row.
The Judges were paced by 13 points from sophomore Anthony Trapasso (Sterling, Mass./St. Johns Prep), who was making just his fifth start of the season. He hit 5-of-10 overall from the floor, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. He scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, when he hit all four of his shots, including all three from range. Rookie Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass./St. Andrews (RI) School) also had a big second half, scoring 10 of his 12 points after the break.
Junior guard Tyrone Hughes (Dorchester, Mass./Taft School) had seven of his 11 in the first half. He also dished out a game-high seven assists. Rookie Ben Bartoldus (Hillsborough, N.H./Proctor Acad.) and sophomore Jay Freeman (Dorchester, Mass./St. Mark's School) rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points each. For Freeman, who scored his points off the bench, it marked his career-high.
Chicago was paced by Matt Johnson's game-high 17 points, 13 of which came after the break. Tom Williams added 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The key run in the game came in the final six minutes of the first half. With the contest tied, 20-20, after two free throws by Chicago's Tommy Sotos, Brandeis closed the stanza on a 13-6 run to take a 33-26 lead into the break. Bartoldus contributed five points in the string, but four other players also had a hand. After Dascy and Trapasso scored the first five points of the second half on a lay-up and a 3-pointer, the Judge lead grew to double digits at 38-26 just 62 seconds in.
The lead bounced between nine and 14 points until the latter stages of the game, when the Maroons made a run. Brandeis took a 59-46 lead with 8:24 on the clock following an Alex Stoyle (Goffstown, N.H./Tilton School) trifecta. At that point, Chicago's Johnson tried to take the game over. He scored nine of his team's next 11 points as the Maroons trimmed the deficit to three points at 61-58 after Johnson converted a traditional three-point play. After two missed Brandeis free throws, the hosts had a chance to get even closer. They turned the ball over, however, and Trapasso made them pay by dialing long distance to push the lead back to six, and the Judges hung on for the eight-point win.
Brandeis will look to avenge one of their worst losses of the season on Sunday when they travel to Washington University for a 12 noon (Central) tip off, while Chicago hosts NYU at the same time.