With 3 minutes, 47 seconds left in the Brandeis men's basketball team's Elite Eight matchup against No. 2 Williams College, a 3-pointer by forward/guard Vytas Kriskus '12 pulled the Judges within 1. Brandeis had trailed for the past six minutes of game. But just when it looked like the Judges had a chance to get back into the game, the Ephs showed why they were the second-best team in the country coming in, going on a 16-3 run for the rest of the game to ice the contest."It wasn't more what they were doing [in the second half]; it was more we just weren't hitting shots we made [earlier in the game]," guard Andre Roberson '10 said of the team's play at the end of the game.

The Judges fell to Williams 71-57 in the national Division III quarterfinals Saturday at Williams after defeating Rhode Island College 76-65 in the Sweet 16 on Friday night. The loss was the last game for the Judges' four seniors: Roberson, forward Terrell Hollins '10, guard Kenny Small '10 and center Richard Magee '10, who missed the game after suffering a season-ending injury against the University of Rochester on Feb. 19.

The Judges got off to a quick start against the Ephs, taking a 21-12 lead with 11:11 left in the first half after a 3-pointer from Kriskus. The 9-point deficit was the largest the Ephs had faced in either their conference play or the NCAA Tournament. But from there the Judges went cold, not hitting another field goal for the next 7-plus minutes. By that point the Ephs had come back to take the lead, holding a 5-point lead with 8 seconds left in the first half. But then Hollins scored his first points of the game on a layup as time expired to pull the Judges back within one basket at the break.

The teams traded the lead several times at the start of the second half. Brandeis pulled back ahead 47-46 on a 3-pointer from Small with 10:37 left. But this was the last time they would lead on the day, as Williams junior center Troy Whittington tipped in his own miss with 9:48 left to give the Ephs a 48-47 advantage and the lead for good.

Roberson led the way for the Judges with 14 points, while Small was the only other Brandeis player in double figures with 11. Hollins led both teams with 13 rebounds, while Roberson had nine, just one shy of a double-double. However, no other Judge had more than two rebounds. The team finished with 27, eight of which were offensive, while the Ephs had 39, 29 of them defensive.

"They were bigger than us," Roberson said of Williams. "They were getting a lot more hands on balls than we were. That's basically what it came down to. We tried to box out as much as we could, but their size matched our quickness [Saturday]."

On Friday the Judges reached their second Elite Eight in the past three years with a 76-65 win over Rhode Island College. The victory avenged the team's second-round tournament loss four years ago, when the current seniors were rookies. It was a game of runs, with the Anchormen going up by nine with 12:53 left in the first half only to see the Judges go on a 12-0 run of their own, taking a 23-20 lead on a three from Kriskus. Rhode Island College then reclaimed the lead at the end of the first half and went up by six just under a minute into the second half.

The game then went into a series of lead changes. The Anchormen took the lead 59-58 on a pair of free throws with 7:10 left, but the Judges then saved one of their best runs of the game for last. Brandeis closed the game on an 18-6 run to turn a close game into a double-digit win.

"Rhode Island plays a fast tempo, so early in the first half we got caught up in playing their style of basketball," Roberson said. "In the second half we just wanted to execute more offensively, and during the halftime we talked about a couple of defensive assignments that we weren't covering."

The team's four seniors leave the team as the winningest class in school history, ending their careers with 83 victories, four NCAA appearances and two Elite Eight berths. All four of the seniors started for this year's squad, but the team still returns starting guard Tyrone Hughes '12 and key reserves Kriskus and forward Christian Yemga '11. The squad also will have several recruits coming in next year after getting none last fall.