CANTON, N.Y. – Two 20-point scorers and a 49-20 rebound advantage helped the Vassar men's basketball team to a 77-61 victory over St. Lawrence on Saturday afternoon. The Brewers now move to 8-11 overall and 4-8 in the Liberty League. St. Lawrence drops to 7-11 and 5-7, respectively.
Junior Zach Bromfeld (Woodmere, NY) led the team with a season-high 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting (71.4 percent), while freshman Jack Rothenberg (Yardley, PA) netted a career-high 21 points on a perfect 9-of-9 from the field with two three-pointers. He also grabbed a career-best nine boards.
Vassar opened on a 7-0 run to start the game and never relinquished the lead afterward. St. Lawrence broke the streak after Brandon Arnold drained a three-pointer at 16:14, but freshman Zach Johnson (San Francisco, CA) responded 20 seconds later when he made a layup off a Bromfeld feed. The Saints would cut the lead to six, but Rothenberg scored to spur a 12-2 Vassar run until 9:28. During that span, Rothenberg accounted for seven points, with Avni Mustafaj (Yonkers, NY) netting a trey.
Senior Josh Brownridge (New York, NY) pushed the lead to 15 after connecting on a pair of free throws, but eight unanswered Saints' points cut the lead to 29-22 with less than four minutes. Another St. Lawrence run made it a two-point game until Johnson scored the next three points. Bromfeld netted a buzz-beater layup to make it 36-29 at the break.
Playing from behind, St. Lawrence rode out on a 6-0 run to start the second half, cutting the lead to 36-35. The action remained within four points for the next six minutes until first-year Kevin McAuliffe (Bethesda, MD) sank a triple off a pass from Kyle Kappes (San Diego, CA). In the next possession, freshman Joey Sacco (Ocean City, NJ) stole the ball from Trent Adamson and scored to push the lead to 49-42.
The Saints chipped back in, but seven straight points from Rothenberg pushed the lead to 12 at the ten-minute mark. Vassar kept pulling away soon after, leading by as much as 16 to secure the victory.
Coming off the bench, Johnson finished with 11 points and grabbed a career-best 13 rebounds, with 11 being offensive boards. Bromfeld grabbed nine rebounds, while Lance Tebay (Virginia Beach, VA) had seven. Rothenberg also dished out a season-high five assists and tallied two steals.
For the Saints, Luke Hicks scored a team-high 20 points, and three other players scored in double figures.
