From now until the end of the calendar year, the Vassar Athletic Department is counting down the Brewers' top 10 moments of 2018 across all sports. The No. 7 moment on the countdown is the 2017-18 men's basketball regular season finale on Feb. 17. Needing a victory to clinch a berth in the Liberty League Tournament, Vassar earned the No. 6 seed with a 66-54 win at Ithaca.
Moment #8: Max White Stars at Liberty League Championships
Moment #9: Cornwall, Edwards Make Doubles Final at ITAs
Moment #10: Baseball Sweeps, Clinches Playoff Berth on Final Day
ITHACA, NY (Feb. 17, 2018) – The Vassar men's basketball team finished the regular season strong with a commanding 66-54 win at Ithaca College on Saturday afternoon at Ben Light Gymnasium. With the victory, combined with Clarkson's overtime triumph against RPI, the Brewers (9-16, 8-10 Liberty) secured the No. 6 seed in the Liberty League Tournament.
The Brewers got 17 points from
Jesse Browne (Barrington, RI) and while
Paul Grinde (Virginia Beach, VA) added his eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 18 rebounds. Both
Alex Seff (Arlington, VA) and
B.J. White (Martin, TN) added nine points to the Vassar cause.
Vassar went down early, as Ithaca hit the first bucket of the game. The Brewers quickly answered, though, and jumped in front by seven, 17-10, at the 11:43 mark. After the Bombers cut their deficit to two,
Lance Tebay (Virginia Beach, VA) hit a trey to bring Vassar's lead back to five points, 20-15. Five minutes later, Browne's layup had Vassar up by six, 26-20, with 3:23 to go in first half.
With just over a minute left until halftime, the Bombers were back within one possession. But Browne responded with a three-pointer to put his Brewers up by six, 29-23, heading into the locker room.
Ithaca battled back in the second half, getting within two at 36-34 with 14:44 to play. A White triple put Vassar up by five, and the Brewers would pile on to their lead for the remainder of the game. The Brewers scored 12 straight points over a four-minute span to run their lead to 17 at 51-34. Grinde capped the run by making two free throws before Ithaca finally converted a layup.
The Brewers battled until the end and were able to run out the clock on their final possession to capture the 12-point, 66-54, road victory.
On the day, Vassar shot 36.2 percent from the floor while holding Ithaca to 28.9 percent shooting. The Brewers converted at a .364 clip from deep and .593 at the free-throw line.
As the No. 6 seed, the Brewers visited third-seeded RIT in the first round of the Liberty League Tournament on Feb. 20. Vassar led for much of the first half before the Tigers rallied for a 68-63 victory that ended the Brewers' season.
