Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 5, 2010) -- The St. Lawrence University men's basketball team strengthened its hold on the top spot in Liberty League standings with a decisive 82-60 win over the Vassar Brewers on Friday evening at the Athletics & Fitness Center. The Saints shot nearly 60 percent from the field and expanded its 14-point halftime lead to 26 points in the first four minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach.

With the loss, Vassar falls to 2-17 overall and 0-8 in league play. The Brewers will hope to pick up their first league win against Clarkson tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. St. Lawrence is now 11-9 and 7-2 in the league and will play at RPI tomorrow afternoon.

In the first half, both teams struggled to string together offensive plays against their respective zones despite good ball movement and resorted to exchanging perimeter shots. Vassar and St. Lawrence were both 6 of 15 from the three-point line in the first stanza. St. Lawrence, though, was able to build its lead on strong play in the paint; they outscored the Brewers 18-4 and held a slim offensive rebound advantage that often resulted in second-chance baskets.

Vassar sophomore Caleb McGraw led Vassar in the first half, shooting 3-6 from behind the arc to tally 9 points. He would finish with a game-high 19 points on 6-17 shooting. St. Lawrence, though, distributed their scoring generously: all but one of their players scored in the contest, and eight Saints notched six points or more.

The Brewers were able to keep up with St. Lawrence for much of the first half thanks to their perimeter shooting. Junior Devon Luongo made good on a three-pointer with three minutes remaining in the first half to cut the Saints' lead to seven, 28-21. But St. Lawrence outscored Vassar 12-5 for the remainder of the half to take a 14-point lead into the locker room.

St. Lawrence started the second half with renewed defensive intensity, using a three-quarter court press to pick off a number of Vassar passes that they easily converted to baskets on the other end. The Saints had 15 fast break points in the second half compared to Vassar's two. Brewer Marvin Smith erupted for a career-high 10 points in the second half with some strong drives to the hoop, but the St. Lawrence defense largely stifled Vassar's efforts.

For St. Lawrence, Terry Parham, Josh Sharlow, and Ralph Temgoua each recorded 11 points. Temgoua rounded out his performance with 7 boards and 4 assists.