The Justice

Forward Stephen Hill '08, left, cannot block this shot in the Judges' 74-68 loss to No. 1 University of Rochester. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Levy/Rochester Sports Information.

It was a scenario the No. 2-ranked men's basketball team had seen so many times this season. Despite having to use its reserves early with multiple starters getting in foul trouble, Brandeis was able to battle back on the road against No. 1-ranked University of Rochester last Sunday, going on a late 10-2 run to cut a 10-point deficit to 65-63 with one minute, five seconds remaining.

This time, however, the Judges were uncharacteristically unable to make the necessary plays down the stretch, and their bid for a second upset over a top-ranked opponent this season fell short, as they lost 74-68. With the defeat, Brandeis fell to 12-2 on the season and 2-1 in University Athletic Association play after a 60-48 win over No. 24 Carnegie Mellon University last Friday.

"[In] every close game down the stretch we've made the right plays and ended up winning the games. Today was a different story," guard Joe Coppens '08 said. "[The loss] really hurts because it was the No. 1 team in the country on their home floor, and it would have been a big, big win for us. It's a tough pill to swallow."

The game marked just the second No. 1 against No. 2 matchup in the history of the d3hoops.com Top 25 Poll.

Wittenburg College and Wooster College were the top two teams in the poll when they squared off in February of 2006.

Brandeis had defeated previous No. 1 Amherst College Dec. 8, when the Judges were ranked No. 3.

After a slow offensive start, Rochester built a 40-32 halftime lead, converting on 13 of their last 15 field goal attempts. The Judges rallied early in the second half, cutting the Rochester lead to 49-48 with 12:23 to play.

At that point, Rochester implemented a 3-2 zone defense that held the Judges to just five points over the next 9:42.

Without the outside shooting of injured star forward Steve DeLuca '08, coach Brian Meehan said the Judges were not able to stretch the Rochester zone.

"One of the problems we have without DeLuca being out there is that we don't have a perimeter big man," he said. "That was an issue for us and we'll straighten that out this week in case we see [the 3-2 zone] again down the road."

Continued...

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