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The women’s basketball team won a close game on Friday in Cleveland against Case Western Reserve University. The final score was 63-58. The game featured eight ties and 11 lead changes.

The Spartans began with an early 9-2 lead, but the Judges responded with a 9-0 run that included three jump shots by guard Kasey Dean ’14. The score was close for the remainder of the half. Brandeis led 21-20 with a minute remaining before Case’s Lauren Elkin made two free throws and Julie Mooney made a layup to go into the half with a 24-21 lead. Despite entering halftime on top, the Spartans made only four field goals to shoot 17.4 percent, supplemented by 15 converted free throws. Brandeis’ shooting suffered as well, making only 25 percent of first half field goals.

The teams were back and forth for the majority of the second half. The team’s eventual final lead began with 3:27 remaining as forward/center Nicolina Vitale ’14 made a layup that was followed by two free throws by guard Paris Hodges ’17. Vitale, Hodges and guard Samantha Mancinelli ’16 each made another basket during the run before Case was able to score again nearly three minutes later. Leading 59-51 with 58 seconds remaining, the Judges were assured the victory. Mooney was able to score five points in the final eight seconds but it was not enough.

Guard Nicki Laskaris ’16 led the team with 15 points offof the bench while being on the floor for only 14 minutes. She shot 6-9 from the floor and 3-5 from three. Hodges had a career-high 14 points, all coming in the crucial second half, including making 7 of 11 from the free-throw line. She also tied for the game-high lead with nine rebounds. Dean had 13 points and nine rebounds. Case’s Erin Reynolds led the game with 17 points while converting on 6 of 8 from the charity strip. Jessica McCoy had 11 points and led all with three blocks.

Brandeis rebounded from their poor first-half shooting performance to make 53.8 percent of shots in the second half. They gave themselves more shooting opportunities by out-rebounding Case 23-12 in the second half and 51-32 in the contest. The Judges outshot the Spartans 37.9 percent to 31 percent. The team’s one weak spot was in handling the ball, turning the ball over 19 times to Case’s 10. They were able to react on defense to these turnovers though as the home team led by only a narrow margin in points off of turnovers 15-11.

Brandeis followed this game with a 58-55 win at Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday. At 10-8 overall and 4-3 in the University Athletic Association they mark season and conference win totals from a year ago. Case is 7-11 overall and 1-6 in the UAA. The Judges are tied for third in the conference with Emory University and the University of Chicago. In the conference, Washington University in St. Louis is ranked second in the nation, Emory is 20th and New York University is 24th. Brandeis has a difficult road in the coming month as they will face each of these ranked teams. They return to Waltham on a four-game win streak and will have rematches against this week’s opponents next weekend at home, against Case on Friday and Carnegie Mellon on Sunday.

The men’s basketball team lost a close game on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh to UAA opponent Carnegie Mellon University. The final score was 77-75. The heated two-point loss featured 11 ties and 18 lead changes.
The Tartans began strong with a 12-6 lead that featured nine points by Jack Serbin, which was just the beginning of his day. The Judges chipped their way back into the game, eventually leading 22-20. The back and forth contest would continue throughout the half until halftime which had the teams tied at 41. Brandeis had led by four with 1:32 left in the half, but two Carnegie Mellon layups evened the score. Serbin shot 7-9 in the first half including a trifecta of three-pointers to have 17 points in the half. Forward Ishmael Kalilou ’15 led the Judges with 10 points in the half on 5-7 shooting after coming off of the bench. Unfortunately, Kalilou was not able to lead the team in the second half, having no shot attempts in the second half.

The teams went back and forth to start the second half until Serbin pulled the Tartans away after a 64-63 deficit. Serbin made a lay-up followed by a pair of threes to claim the minimal lead permanently with about six minutes remaining. Guard Robinson Vilmont ’17 made two free throws with 1:40 left to come back within one. Asad Meghani missed a three-pointer to allow Vilmont to grab a defensive rebound. Brandeis was not able to attempt a shot on this possession though as a turnover gave the Tartans possession and a two-point lead after Rob Mohen made his first of two free throws. The Judges gained possession back with 41 seconds left but did not get a shot attempt until there were only three seconds remaining. The final seconds featured three missed shots. Serbin blocked a layup by guard Gabriel Moton ’14 allowing an in-bound attempt that guard Ben Bartoldus ’14 could not tip in.

Moton and Bartoldus led Brandeis with 15 points apiece. Bartoldus was 6-11 from the floor while Moton reached his point mark by making a trio of three pointers, all in the second half. Kalilou and guard Colby Smith ’16 each had 11 points, a career-high for Smith. Smith and guard/forward Connor Arnold ’14 led the game with six rebounds each. Serbin, who averages 7.7 points per game this season, led the game with 29. He also had three blocks and five rebounds. He shot well from all areas of the floor, shooting 12-15 overall and 5-7 from beyond the arc. Mohen had 15 points and Carnegie Mellon’s Rashaun Riley had 13. Christian Manoli, the team’s lead scorer this year with 17.1 points per game on the season, did not score any points until midway through the second half on his 2-14 shooting day. This was his first game of the year coming short of double digit points. He led the game with six assists and tied the team leads with five rebounds and three blocks.

Brandeis shot impressively in the first half at 55.2 percent but fell to 40.7 percent in the second. Overall, they outshot Carnegie Mellon 48.2 percent to 43.9 percent. Brandeis outrebounded the victors 39-31 but came short in points off turnovers, 29-9, a mark that gave all the advantage to the Tartans that was necessary to come out on top.
Brandeis falls to 9-9 overall and 1-6 in-conference, while Carnegie Mellon climbs to 10-8 overall and 3-4 in the UAA. The Judges lost to Case Western Reserve University on Friday 74-66. Brandeis is in last place in the conference. Washington University in St. Louis leads the conference at 7-0 and is ranked fourth in the country. The Judges’ will face Case Western on Friday and Carnegie Mellon Sunday.