Men’s basketball sweeps UAA play over the weekend
Published: February 5, 2010Section: Sports
Hollins, who has said in the past that personal achievements mean nothing without a team victory, got his wish when the Judges swept their University Athletic Association rivals this weekend. The Brandeis men’s basketball team moved up to 19th in the nation according to d3hoops.com and second in the UAA with the wins.
The Judges triumphed over the Case Western Reserve University Spartans 70-52 on Friday night and took down Carnegie Mellon 72-59 on Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans jumped out to an early 9-4 lead over the Judges but thanks to a pair of three-pointers over 25 seconds from guard Vytas Kriskus ’12 Brandeis pulled ahead.
Case Western fought back to tie it up shortly after on a free throw but the Judges would not let that stand.
Kriskus went for another three but missed the net. Hollins grabbed the rebound and found Kriskus who put it up for a trifecta. That sealed a lead Brandeis held onto for the remainder of the game.
Brandeis began pulling away for the remainder of the first, with John Weldon ’10 tacking on back to back three-pointers. Tyrone Hughes ’12 put up a total of eight before the break while Kenny Small ’10 had seven, five of which came in the last two minutes of play. The Judges commanded a 33-22 lead going at halftime.
Case came out of the lockers ready to challenge their dominant hosts. The Spartans opened it up with an 8-2 run and brought the game within five. Brandeis responded with two free throws from Hollins and a Hughes three-pointer to give them a double digit once again.
The two teams traded baskets for most of the second half until the Judges defense shut down the Spartans in the final seven minutes, holding them without a field goal for the rest of the game. Case was able to tack on five points through free throws but 16 from the Judges sealed the deal.
Kriskus had a game-leading 20 points including six trifectas. Hollins had his third straight double-double with 13 points (12 of which came in the second half) and 12 rebounds. Hughes also put up 13 in the game.
In the came against Carnegie Mellon on Sunday the Judges never fell behind their visitors. The Tartans tied things up just 2:15 into play, but Brandeis fought back on a 12-4 run to regain control of the game.
The Tartans got within a single point of the Judges, pulling to 27-26 with 5:41 left in the first half, but Brandeis would not let them take the lead.
The Judges went on an unanswered 12-point run in just over three minutes to pull away. Carnegie Mellon continued to fight, though. They put up eight of the final 10 points of the half to bring the game to judges 41, Tartans 34 at the break.Carnegie Mellon came out of the lockers and hit the first two shots to narrow the Judges lead to just three points. Guard Andre Roberson ’10 answered back with a jumper and lay-up of his own to bring their lead back to seven.
In the final six minutes of play the Judges went on a 13-8 run to hold onto the lead and end the game 13-points ahead of the Tartans.
Small led with a game-high 26 points, nailing 6-of-7 three-point attempts and making all four free throws. Hollins put up 19 points overall in the game as well as 16 rebounds for his fourth double-double performance in a row. Hollins also had six assists, just one away from a career-high. Roberson added 12 points in the win while Hughes had 10.
After two weekends at home the Judges are on the road this weekend, facing off against Case Western and Carnegie at their home courts. Action in Cleveland starts at 8 p.m. on Friday night and in Pittsburgh on Sunday at noon. WBRS will be calling both games live on location. The Judges will play at home next on Tuesday Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. when they take on Amherst College.