POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (December 1, 2017) – The Brewers played their second game in a row in the AFC after beginning the season with three straight road contests. Vassar welcomed first year Liberty League member Ithaca to the AFC on Friday night as the Bombers handed the Brewers a 78-69 loss.
 
Jesse Browne tallied his second 20-point outing of this season, pouring in 21 points on Friday night. The senior was 6-14 from the field, including 3-8 from deep and made six free throws. Browne added seven rebounds and three assists to fill out his stat line.
 
Alex Seff and Hunter Gettings were next in line in scoring, chipping in 12 points apiece, both recording season highs.
 
The Brewers came out roaring against the Bombers, opening up a 15-point lead just seven minutes into the game. It was a combination of great defense and efficient that guided them to the early advantage. Brown had 10 of the Brewers' first 20 points of the night, knocking down three trifectas in the process. Tony Caletti subbed into the game and made a tough layup while drawing the foul. Caletti knocked down his free throw to put Vassar up 15, 21-6.
 
The Bombers began to chip away at the lead as their entire offense began to knock down their shots. Over the next 10 minutes, Ithaca swung the momentum in their favor to put together a 19-7 scoring run to close the gap to just three points, 28-25.
 
After Cooper Macklin tied the game with a three-pointer, Miles Herman scored a layup on the next possession to put Ithaca ahead. The Brewers kept it within reach in the final three minutes to head into the halftime break down by just four.
 
Browne would tally a layup for the first points of the second half, but the Bombers would stop it there running their lead up to 14 just about midway through the half.
 
Vassar would continue to battle and mount their comeback. Over a 10-minute span, the Brewers would go on to outscore Ithaca by 11 points and cut the deficit to just three points with under two minutes to play. In the final plays of the rally, Browne knocked down four consecutive free throws to make the score 69-72. Unfortunately, the Bombers would score the final six points of the game and go on to secure the conference win.
 
The Brewer defense played well, holding Ithaca's leading scorer coming into the night, Riley Thompson to just two points. Peter Ezema led the Bombers with 20 points while Marc Chasin grabbed eight rebounds.
 
Vassar shot 46.9% from the field and converted on 36.8% of the shots from beyond the arc, while scoring 26 points in the paint.
 
The Brewers are back in action on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. against Hobart College in the AFC.