The No. 2 Washington University men’s basketball team completed an undefeated road trip and improved to 7-0 in the UAA and 17-1 overall by defeating Brandeis University and New York University this past weekend.

Wash. U. defeated Brandeis 80-75 on Friday night in Waltham, Mass. and then knocked off NYU 67-56 on Sunday afternoon in New York City.

Five Bears scored in double figures against Brandeis, which entered the game allowing a UAA-low 62.2 points per game. A week after being named UAA athlete of the week, junior guard Aaron Thompson led all scorers with 18 points and junior forward Cameron Smith tied a career-high with 15 points on 6-6 shooting from the field. Senior forward Tyler Nading and freshman forward Alex Toth also scored in double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively while senior guard Sean Wallis posted his fourth double-double of the year with 12 points and a game-high 11 assists.

The 80 points were the most Brandeis has allowed all season.

“When we got our shots, we knocked ’em down,” Smith said. “When you play against a good team, you have to make open shots and we did.”

The teams traded buckets early in the first half before Wash. U. went on an 11-1 run to jump ahead 22-12. A layup by Toth with 3:41 left put the Bears up 35-26, but a three-pointer from Kevin Olson and a layup by Andrew Magee cut the Bears’ halftime lead to 37-33.

The Red and Green began the second half by hitting 10 of 16 shots, but the Judges hung in the game. Thompson put Wash. U. up 61-50 at the halfway mark of the period with a deep three-pointer and then a 15-footer, but Olson nailed two threes and Andre Roberson added another to trim the lead to 63-59 with 7:44 remaining.

Wash. U. led 71-63 with 4:29 left when a Brandeis dancer was injured during a time-out, delaying the game for 30 minutes. The Bears struggled after the bizarre incident, and Brandeis scored five straight points to cut the lead to 71-68.

“[The break] definitely changed the whole feel of the game, because the last four and a half minutes were just bizarre. It was almost like starting a new game because you never wait 30 minutes during games,” Smith said. “It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever been a part of in a basketball game.”

Wash. U. was able to regain its composure after the brief Brandeis run when Smith hit a three-pointer in the corner with 2:33 left to put the team up 74-68. Wallis and Thompson then went 6-6 from the free-throw line collectively down the stretch to seal the victory.

Against NYU on Sunday, Thompson led the way for the Bears by pouring in 29 points on 9-19 shooting, including 5 of 9 from three-point range. It was the sixth time Thompson has scored at least 20 points in a game this season and his third-highest total of the year.

The rest of the team struggled offensively, as the Bears shot just 39.6 percent from the field for the game and 1 for 5 from three-point range in the second half.

It was the Wash. U. defense that ensured another victory, holding NYU to 44.4 percent shooting and forcing 17 turnovers. The Bears also outscored NYU 20-12 in points off turnovers and 16-0 in second-chance points.

“They were really physical, and on a Sunday after two weekends of travel, it’s kind of tough to get up for that Sunday game. But we started getting some shots to go and then pretty much just controlled the boards and defensively really handled them,” Thompson said.

The Bears started slow, missing their first seven shots from the field and falling behind 9-0. Back-to-back three-pointers by Thompson ignited an astonishing 28-3 Wash. U. run. During the run, the Bears hit six three-pointers, including five from Thompson, and held NYU without a field goal for nearly nine minutes.

“A.T. [Thompson] was the catalyst today,” Smith said. “We were not putting the ball in the hole, and then A.T. hits five threes…and all of a sudden you look up at the board and its 28-12.”

Wash. U. entered halftime leading 34-25 and built the lead to 42-31 to start the second half before D.J. Glavan got the Violets back into the game by rattling off seven straight points. NYU got as close as 54-50, but did not score in the final 1:58 of the game as the Bears sealed the victory on a Wallis three-pointer and free throws by Wallis and Thompson.

Wash. U. will begin the second half of conference play by returning home to face these teams again. The Bears play NYU on Friday at 8 p.m. and then square off against Brandeis on Sunday at noon.

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Tags: aaron thompson, basketball, Brandeis, cameron smith, NYU, uaa

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 am and is filed under Men's Basketball, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.