The men’s basketball team went 2-1 this past week, defeating Salem State University  83-63 on Sunday, losing to Babson 75-65 on Saturday and beating Becker College 79-58 last Tuesday. With the victory on Sunday, the Judges improve to 5-2 overall. 

Judges 83, Salem St. 63

The Judges never trailed in the consolation game of the New England Big Four Challenge. 

Center John Powell ’17 tallied a double-double in the game, scoring 18 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. 

Brandeis started the game on an 8-0 run as a result of two three-pointers made by guard Robinson Vilmont ’17 and forward Samuel Dowden ’17 and  a layup from guard Tim Reale ’17. 

The Judges were up 26-22 with roughly five minutes remaining when guard Jack Fay ’17 hit a free-throw to start a 17-4 run to end the half. Fay finished the game with five points, all coming from the foul line. 

In the second half, Vilmont led the Judges with 12 of his total game-high 20 points. 

Powell also chipped in with six points in the half, along with nine rebounds as Brandeis led by at least 15 throughout the half.

Vilmont said the win was a result of a team effort. “The main focus Sunday was to play team basketball and not break [that] mentality,” Vilmont said. “If we play our game, we can beat anyone in the country. Everyone played a huge role in our win against Salem State.”

The Judges shot 55.4 percent from the field and limited Salem State to 41.2 percent shooting.

Judges 65, Babson 75

Fay scored a team-high 11 points for the Judges in the New England Big Four Challenge Opener, but Brandeis could not erase an early second-half nine-point deficit as they fell to Babson. Forward Latye Workman ’18 hit a jumpshot with 10:45 remaining in the first half to cut Babson’s lead to eight. 

Vilmont followed on the ensuing Judges possession with a layup. Brandeis outscored Babson 21-15 to end the half as the teams were tied 40-40 at halftime.

After a free throw from Vilmont put the Judges up 47-46 in the beginning of the second half, Babson reeled off nine straight points to take a 55-47 lead. The Judges could only come as close as six points the rest of the game.

Brandeis’s bench outscored Babson’s bench 26-10 behind the play of guard Colby Smith ’16 — who scored nine points — and Fay, but Babson outrebounded the Judges 38-27. Vilmont emphasized the importance of rebounding in the loss. 

“The key to our loss against Babson was being out-rebound. They were more physical than we were that day,” Vilmont said. “Also, they were hitting some tough shots.” 

Judges 79, Becker 58

Vilmont led the Judges with a team-high 19 points, but Brandeis had 10 players score at least one point as they never trailed in the game in the tournament’s opener.

A layup from Workman with 11:01 remaining put the Judges up 21-11. Becker got to within four points at 23-19, but Brandeis finished the half on a 16-5 run to go up 39-24 at halftime. Guard Nate Meehan ’18 scored all of his 13 points in the first half on four-of-five shooting.

The Judges kept the momentum in the second half, leading at one point by as many as 23 points. Smith scored eight points in the half, and Fay and Dowden both scored five points. 

Brandeis shot 51 percent from the field and limited Becker to just 32.4 percent shooting. The Judges also hit nine three-pointers, compared to just four from Becker. 

The Judges return to action tonight on Tuesday as they host No. 4 Amherst College at 7 p.m. in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

Last season’s contest against Amherst proved to be the Judges’ high point of the season.

On the road in the 2014 to 2015 campaign against the No. 2 team in the nation, the Judges throttled Amherst by twenty points.

The upset was one of the biggest in program history and made waves around the Division III landscape.

Powell led the team with a total of 17 points in that matchup.