The first half was a game of runs. Brandeis (6-13) opened with the first five points of the contest by forcing three Amherst turnovers. The Lord Jeffs (20-2) answered with a 13-2 streak of their own over the next seven minutes, taking a 13-7 lead on senior forward Andrew Schiel’s (Wayne, Pa.) lay-up off his own miss. The Judges answered again with a 15-7 skein on a 3-pointer by senior center Bryan Lambert (Auburn, Maine) that put his squad up 22-20 with 7:27 left in the half.
Amherst responded with junior reserve guard Russell Lee’s (Lorton, Va.) trifecta after a timeout and the Lord Jeffs did not trail again. They increased the lead to eight later in the stanza, but Brandeis forced a couple of turnovers and cut the margin to 34-30 on a steal by Lambert that led to a fast-break lay-up by junior Glenn Wright (Wingdale, N.Y.) with 1:29 remaining. Brandeis had a chance to get even closer, but Lambert was unable to connect on a couple of offensive put-backs and Amherst closed with one-of-two free throws by senior guard John Donavan (Holmdel, N.J.), who followed with a lay-up when Amherst got the offensive rebound of his miss.
The Lord Jeffs allowed Brandeis just three field goals and outrebounded the Judges 11-4 in the first six minutes of the second half to extend the 37-30 half time lead to 55-36. Lambert answered with another 3-pointer, but Amherst scored the next 10 points and never trailed by less than 20 again.
Lambert led all players with 20 points and 13 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double. He hit three-of-four from beyond the arc. Senior forward Ben Bosanac (Ranch Santa Fe, Calif.) was the only other Brandeis player in double figures. After shooting 12-of-26 (46.2%) from the floor in the first half, the Judges went cold in the second, hitting just 11-of-41 (26.8%).
Amherst was paced by 17 points by Schiel on seven-of-12 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots. Sophomore guard John Bedford (Ridgewood, N.J.) added 14 points off the bench, while senior guard Adam Harper (Washington, D.C.) had 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Donovan added nine points, eight boards and a game-high seven assists. The Lord Jeffs shot 52.5 percent from the floor (31-59) and outscored Brandeis 25-9 from the free throw line.
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