WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University men's basketball team scored 15 unanswered points in the second half Monday night to pull away from local rival Lasell College, 78-65, in non-conference action in Red Auerbach Arena.

With the win, the Judges improve to 3-1 for the first time since the 2015-16 season. The Lasers fall to 1-4 on the campaign.

Junior Stefan Masciarelli (Northbridge, Mass.) led the visitors with 25 points, hitting 10-of-26 from the floor with a 3-pointer, and 4-of-4 from the line. Sophomore Vic Collazo (Clearwater, Fla.) added 13 points and eight rebounds, while classmate Liam Jacobs (Plainfield, Conn.) led all players with 11 rebounds.

Lasell opened the game quickly, jumping out to an 8-2 start, and an 18-11 advantage after the Judges had tied the game at 11-all. The Lasers led 25-21 after Masciarelli hit a lay-up with 7:13 on the clock, but the Judges closed the stanza on a 17-7 run, with nine of the points coming from senior Corey Sherman (Penn Valley, Pa.) to take a 38-32 lead into the locker room.

Lasell climbed back into the game, scoring nine of the first 12 points of the second half, tying the game at 41-41 on a Collazo lay-up. Jacobs hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to put the visitors ahead, 44-41, and he converted a traditional three-point play at the 13:27 mark to make it 49-46 in favor of Lasell

At that point, the Judges caught fire and put the game away, scoring 15 unanswered points over the next four minutes. Junior Eric D'Aguanno (Saunderstown, R.I.) started the run with a lay-up and capped it with a corner 3-pointer that made the score 61-48. Four different teammates scored during the string.

Brandeis pushed the lead as large as 17 points on a D'Aguanno trifecta with 6:05 remaining to make it 69-52 before hanging on for the 13-point win.

The duo of Sherman and D'Aguanno led the Judges with a combined 48 points and nine 3-pointers. Sherman finished with a career-high 26 points on 7-of-11 overall. Fourteen of his 26 came in the first half, when Sherman did not miss a shot – he was 4-of-4 from the field, 2-of-2 from deep, and 4-of-4 from the line. D'Aguanno netted 22 off the bench, hitting 8-of-12 overall and 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

Sophomore Chandler Jones (Springfield, Mass.) also reached double-digits in scoring with 12 points. Grad student Latye Workman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored seven points and led Brandeis with 10 rebounds.

Lasell is off until after Thanksgiving with a home game against Husson University next Monday, November 26 at 5:30 p.m.

(Courtesy of Brandeis Sports Information)

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