Spring Break
Men's basketball eliminated from UAA title contention
by Jeffrey Pickette
Senior writer
Sports | 2/12/08
Posted online at 10:44 AM EST on 2/26/08
/ Last updated at 8:42 PM EST on 2/26/08
With the men's basketball team trailing 62-60 at the University of Chicago last Sunday, guard Joe Coppens '08 buried a three-pointer to give Brandeis a one-point lead with five minutes, 55 seconds left in regulation. That advantage proved to be short-lived, however, as Brandeis was held scoreless over the next four minutes of play.
As the Brandeis offense struggled down the stretch, Chicago went on a 12-3 run to close-out the game and hand the Judges a 74-66 defeat.
"We had the shots that we usually make, but we couldn't connect," forward Christian Yemga '11 said. "We could have put the game away when we were up …we just couldn't score in the last minute of the game."
Still, Brandeis earned a much-needed split this weekend, topping Washington University in St. Louis 68-66 last Friday. The win was the Judges' first in St. Louis during head coach Brian Meehan's five-year tenure with the team, and it also snapped a 24-game home winning streak for the Bears.
Brandeis stands at 19-5 on the season and 9-4 in University Athletic Association play, good for second place in the conference behind Wash U and Chicago, who are both 10-3 in the league. The loss to Chicago eliminated the Judges from a shot at the UAA title.
"Right now [this weekend] is more of a disappointment," assistant coach Eric McKoy said. "The guys were really looking forward to winning [against Chicago]. If we had won we would have stayed tied for the league title, now we're out of the hunt. It was one of our goals to win the UAA this year and we had a shot to do it."
Still, with one game left in the regular season, the Judges are in good position to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, as a win over New York University next Sunday would give them a better mark in UAA play than they had last season to go along with wins over No. 1 Amherst College, Wash U, and No. 15 University of Rochester. The Judges reached the second round last year before losing to Rhode Island College during their first tournament appearance in 29 years.
As the Brandeis offense struggled down the stretch, Chicago went on a 12-3 run to close-out the game and hand the Judges a 74-66 defeat.
"We had the shots that we usually make, but we couldn't connect," forward Christian Yemga '11 said. "We could have put the game away when we were up …we just couldn't score in the last minute of the game."
Still, Brandeis earned a much-needed split this weekend, topping Washington University in St. Louis 68-66 last Friday. The win was the Judges' first in St. Louis during head coach Brian Meehan's five-year tenure with the team, and it also snapped a 24-game home winning streak for the Bears.
Brandeis stands at 19-5 on the season and 9-4 in University Athletic Association play, good for second place in the conference behind Wash U and Chicago, who are both 10-3 in the league. The loss to Chicago eliminated the Judges from a shot at the UAA title.
"Right now [this weekend] is more of a disappointment," assistant coach Eric McKoy said. "The guys were really looking forward to winning [against Chicago]. If we had won we would have stayed tied for the league title, now we're out of the hunt. It was one of our goals to win the UAA this year and we had a shot to do it."
Still, with one game left in the regular season, the Judges are in good position to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, as a win over New York University next Sunday would give them a better mark in UAA play than they had last season to go along with wins over No. 1 Amherst College, Wash U, and No. 15 University of Rochester. The Judges reached the second round last year before losing to Rhode Island College during their first tournament appearance in 29 years.
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