POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – An Ethan Ellis (Silver Spring, MD) layup cut the lead to two with under 1:30 minutes to play, but it was the Engineers holding on to the 59-56 victory on Friday evening. League-leading RPI moves to 14-2 after their 14th consecutive win and take an 9-0 conference record. Meanwhile, Vassar slips to 6-10 overall and 2-7 in the Liberty League.

The Brewers took an early 11-4 lead following seven straight points by Avni Mustafaj (Yonkers, NY) and a layup from Lance Tebay (Virginia Beach, VA). Vassar took an eight-point lead after Tebay sank a triple at 14:16, but the Engineers chipped back in with five unanswered points by RPI's Dom Black. After Tebay split free throws, the Engineers' Jeffrey Coulter drained a three at 9:08 take their first lead at 21-20. RPI held the lead for the remainder of the night.  

Vassar kept the game within single digits throughout the first half and after Kevin McAuliffe (Bethesda, MD) hit a three-pointer and Zach Johnson (San Francisco, CA) made a layup, the game was cut to 29-28. RPI scored the next seven points, but McAuliffe made a crafty layup in the final seconds to make it 36-30 at the break.

RPI opened on an 8-1 run to take their largest lead of the night at 44-31. Tebay netted a fast break score and another trey from McAuliffe brought the game back to single digits. The Engineers pulled away again, taking a 58-48 lead at 3:08. Tebay sank a three to spur an 8-0 run with scores from Zach Bromfeld (Woodmere, NY) and Ellis to make it 58-56. The Brewers could not connect their next offensive possession, and the Engineers made one free throw with two seconds to take the final lead.

Tebay and Mustafaj led the Brewers with 12 points each, with both knocking down two triples. Tebay led the team with five assists and two steals, while also grabbing six rebounds and a block. McAuliffe added 11 points behind 3-of-4 tree-point shooting. Bromfeld tacked on eight points and tallied a team-high seven rebounds.    

For RPI, Black led the game with 18 points and eight rebounds. Patrick Mahoney had 14 points with three steals.

Vassar welcomes Bard on Sat. Jan. 25 for a 4 p.m. contest.