Box Score

NEW PALTZ, NY (December 1, 2009) – The Vassar College men's basketball team found itself in a similar predicament on Tuesday evening against cross-river rival SUNY New Paltz that has been the scenario the last three games: tightly contested first half slips away, morphs into a double figures deficit at halftime and the second half is spent entirely in catch-up mode. The host Hawks used that script to defeat the Brewers, 75-64, in non-conference action. 

Vassar, now 2-4, absorbs its fourth straight loss, and gets little relief in the next game -- a road contest against national power Williams (5-0) on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. New Paltz improves to 4-2 and hosts Plattsburgh State on December 4. 

The Brewers trailed 40-30 at intermission. The first 20 minutes had only one tie, 9-9, following a layup in the paint by junior center Chris Whitney. Vassar never managed a lead in either half, and midway through the opening stanza trailed 23-15 after Hawks sophomore guard Shareef Taylor canned a jumper. Sophomore forward David de la Torre was able to keep the Brewers within striking distance at 30-26 with a layup in the paint with 5:28 until intermission. Capitalizing on opportune offense, the Hawks went on a game-changing 10-4 run to close out the half with a comfortable ten point lead. 

The Brewers made a concerted run in the second half and with 12:55 to play drew within 50-46 following a jumper by sophomore guard Caleb McGraw. New Paltz countered – as was the norm throughout the contest – with two straight baskets, one by sophomore forward Jayquan Anderson and the other from sophomore guard Harris Wichard for an eight point lead. That elusive eight-point cushion was hard for Vassar to crack and New Paltz expanded that margin to 11 points to 67-56 with 5:03 to play following a layup by Anderson off his own missed shot. 

Using strong inside play, which included a 38-18 advantage in points in the paint, New Paltz aptly protected its lead throughout the final five minutes. 

The Brewers were led by a 20 point performance from McGraw and 10 points from freshman forward John Donnelly. Donnelly led the team with 11 rebounds. 

New Paltz got a pair of 20 point efforts by Anderson and Wichard and 12 points and 10 rebounds from Taylor. The Hawks shots 49 percent for the game and a blistering 53 percent in the second half. The Brewers saw their 43 percent field goal shooting dip to 34 percent in the second half and 37 percent for the game.