St. Louis, Mo., January 20, 2013 – Junior guard Derek Retos hit six three-pointers and scored all of his 23 points in the second half as Brandeis University upset No. 13 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team 67-62 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play Sunday afternoon in St. Louis.
Brandeis improved its overall record to 14-2 and remains in a first-place tie in the UAA standings with University of Rochester at 5-0. The Judges extended their winning streak to six games and have won the last two meetings with Washington U. The Bears dropped to 12-4 overall, and tied for fourth place in the UAA standings with a 2-3 record. The Bears are three games behind Brandeis and Rochester with nine games remaining.
Washington U. shot 42 percent (21-50) from the field in the loss, and hit a dismal 15-of-30 from the free-throw line. The Bears outrebounded Brandeis 39-38, and had 15 assists and 11 turnovers.
Junior forward Chris Klimek led the Bears with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, while sophomore forward Matt Palucki added 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Alan Aboonaadded 10 points and four assists.
A slow start by both teams saw Washington U. build an 11-5 lead in the opening eight minutes despite hitting just one of its first eight shots from the field. Brandeis quickly got back into the game with a 10-0 run, and took its first lead of the game at 12-11 on a layup by Jay Freeman with 8:28 to play. Freeman nailed a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to give Brandeis its largest lead of the half at 15-11.
Washington U. went without a field goal for over eight minutes midway through the half, and connected on 3-of-12 free-throws during that span. A three-pointer by senior guard Ben Hoener ended the scoring drought and got the lead down to one (18-17) with 3:28 to play. A tip-in by Palucki gave the Bears the lead for good as Washington U. took a 25-21 lead to the locker room.
Washington U. shot 30 percent (6-20) from the field in the first half, and hit just 11-of-20 from the foul line. Brandeis shot 23.3 percent (7-30) in the opening half and hit four three-pointers. The Bears had a 25-17 rebounding advantage in the first half.
A back-and-forth game in the second half saw the lead change hands nine times, with six ties. Retos had nine points in a span of 1:51 to give Brandeis the 45-39 lead with 11:22 left to force a 30-second timeout by Washington U. The Bears answered with a 7-0 run to grab the lead back, but the Judges scored the next six points to take the 51-46 lead. Retos capped the 6-0 run with a steal and a lay-up.
Klimek's bucket with 4:54 to play gave Washington U. the 52-51 lead, but Retos answered back with a three-pointer to give the Judges a 54-52 lead. Aboona canned a three on the ensuing possession, but Retos' drilled his sixth three of the half to make it 57-55. A bucket by Klimek tied the game at 57-57 with 2:30 left, but a three by Gabriel Moton with one second on the shot clock on the next possession gave Brandeis the lead for good.
Retos was 6-of-12 from three-point range to lead all scorers with 23 points, while Moton added 17 points and four assists. The Judges shot 37.9 percent (22-58) from the field in the win, but hit a season-high 12 three-pointers.
Washington U. concludes the first half of UAA play with a pair of road games at Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, Jan. 25, and at Case Western Reserve University on Sunday, Jan. 27.
Bear Notebook: Washington University leads the all-time series with Brandeis, 38-11 … Since the 2000-01 season, Washington University is 73-13 (.849) in UAA home games … Palucki has pulled down eight or more rebounds in 13 of 16 games, while Klimek has scored in double figures in 13 games … Washington U. lost its first game of the season when leading at half, and is 94-7 in the last 101 games when leading at half.