ITHACA, N.Y. – Three Brewers scored in double figures, but it was not enough as the Vassar men's basketball team lost 70-91 to Ithaca on Friday evening. With the loss, Vassar fall to 10-14 overall, but remains tied with St. Lawrence, Clarkson, Skidmore, and RIT for the fifth seed at 6-11 in the conference. Ithaca now moves to 19-5 overall and 14-3 in the Liberty League.
The Brewers held the game within seven in the first half, only down 41-48 heading into the break. Vassar drained a pair of three-pointers from Lance Tebay (Virginia Beach, VA) and Avni Mustafaj (Yonkers, NY) to take an early 6-2 lead. Four game ties followed, and with the game 16-16, the Bombers used a 5-2 run to take a 21-17 lead. The next possession, Ethan Ellis (Silver Spring, MD), swiped the ball from Skylar Sinon and found Jack Rothenberg on the fast break for the easy layup. Then a triple by Kevin McAuliffe (Bethesda, MD) cut the Ithaca lead to 22-23.
Three treys from Ithaca extended their lead to 34-25, but Tebay sank a triple and Zach Bromfeld (Woodmere, NY) hit a jumper to cut the lead to four. Ithaca kept responding every time the Brewers got close, though, going up by ten with under four minutes to play. An 8-0 Brewers' run came next with Zach Johnson (San Francisco, CA) scoring six-straight points following a Rothenberg layup. Ithaca kept draining three, though, netting one with less than ten seconds remaining.
Ithaca kept the scoring up in the second half, outscoring the Brewers 43-29. An early Bromfeld layup cut the lead to seven, but that was the closest it would get. The Bombers' eventually took a 75-56 lead at 7:01. Vassar chipped back in to make it a 15-point game, but time was not on their side.
For Vassar, Bromfeld scored 15 points behind 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Rothenberg added 12 coming off the bench, while Tebay scored 11. Johnson added ten points and a team-high nine rebounds. Mustafaj led the Brewers with six assists. Joey Sacco (Ocean City, NJ) grabbed a season-high seven boards.
Ithaca was paced by Sebastian Alderete, who scored26 points with four three-pointers and six rebounds. Sinon added 22 points and four assists.
Vassar wraps up the regular season on Sat. Feb. 21 at RIT. The game is set to begin at 4 p.m.
