POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Vassar men's basketball team only trailed the visiting FDU Devils once for under two minutes on their way to a convincing 79-69 victory on Tuesday evening. Junior Zach Bromfeld (Woodmere, NY) recorded his second double-double of the season with a season-high 20 points and 13 rebounds.

With the victory, Vassar moves to 2-2 overall, while the Devils drop to 3-5.

Junior Hugh Durham (Savannah, GA) knocked down the opening triple before FDU's Kenneth LaRocca responded with a three of his own. Another Devils' trey from Shawn Smith pushed the lead to 6-3 at 17:45. After a missed shot from Ethan Ellis (Silver Spring, MD), freshman Avni Mustafaj (Yonkers, NY) stole the ball from Smith on the ensuing Devils' possession. The ball made its way back to Ellis, who found first-year Zach Johnson (San Francisco, CA) for the inside layup.

Now only down one, Durham sank a pair of free throws to put Vassar up 7-6 at 16:08, which was a lead they never gave up for the remainder of the night. FDU kept the game within single-digits before Bromfeld scored four unanswered to begin a 7-2 run to push the lead to 26-17. Soon after, the Devils went on a 6-0 burst to cut the lead to two, but another two more Bromfeld layups and four points from Mustafaj gave Vassar room to breathe in the final minutes of the half. In the last minute of the half, the Brewers netted five unanswered points behind an Ellis triple and a layup from Johnson to go up 44-33 at the break.

Vassar took their largest lead at 52-40 when Bromfeld sank the mid-range jumper off an Ellis feed. FDU fought their way back, though, eventually cutting the edge to four points after a steal allowed Cameron Saintil for the breakaway score. The team traded baskets the next few minutes, but the Brewers got rolling again to go up 70-61 following a Joey Sacco (Ocean City, NJ) basket from a Jack Rothenberg (Yardley, PA) assist.

With under a minute left, the Brewers connected on 5-of-6 free throws off the intentional fouls to hold on for the win.

Mustafaj netted a career-high 17 points and five boards while shooting 6-of-11 from the field. Ellis and Durham each had ten points, while Ellis made a career-best four assists. Durham led Vassar with two three-pointers. Johnson had a well-rounded game, scoring seven points, grabbing a career-high ten rebounds, and leading the team with five assists. Bromfeld also led Vassar with two blocks.

FDU was led by Andy Fleurantin, who netted 20 points and also had a game-high six assists and six steals. Oliver Ortman scored 18 points, while Shawn Smith led the Devils with seven boards.

Vassar now opens Liberty League play on Fri. Dec. 6 when they host RIT at 7:30 p.m. in the AFC.