POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Albright's Jordan Guerrero scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Lions to a 68-60 victory over the Vassar men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon in the Hochberg Family Tip-Off Tournament consolation game. With the loss, Vassar falls to 0-2, while Albright moves to 2-1.
The Brewers came out of the gates strong, with junior Ethan Ellis dropping the opening three-pointer to get the Brewers on the board. Junior Kevin McAuliffe drained a triple the next Vassar possession to make it 6-2. The Brewers continued to hold a narrow lead, and then an inside layup by junior Zach Johnson at 16:54 put Vassar ahead 10-8.
Momentum began to swing in the Lions' favor after that when Troy Smoot dished off to Corey Simmons to tie the game 10-10 at 15:48. That spurred an 11-2 Albright run to give the visitors an 18-12 lead. Junior Jack Rothenberg broke the streak after collecting his miss and making the putback. Albright continued to hold its lead and went up by nine following a steal and layup from Eric Chamberlain at 9:13.
Neville Lee hit a three to cut the lead to six, and then another triple from junior Zev Katz made it 24-27 with second minutes remaining. Then Ellis drove in and converted the and-one layup to tie the game 27-27 at 5:22. The Lions kept holding the Brewers off when Smoot hit a three, but three-straight free from first-year Luke Adams tied the game at 30-30. Albright then closed the half on a 7-3 run to take a 37-33 lead heading into the break.
Albright held the lead the entire second half and led by as much as 16 points. After a triple from Ellis made it 40-46, Albright's Guerrero answered with one of his own at 14:14. Then a 12-2 span by the Lions pushed it to 63-48 at 4:52. Four-straight points by junior Avni Mustafaj cut it to single digits again, but there was not enough time left.
Three Brewers finished in double-digit scoring, with Ellis and Mustafaj each having 11 points. Rothenberg recorded a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds and also had five assists and two steals to be named to the all-tournament team. McAuliffe added eight points, while Johnson had 11 boards with six points.
After scoring 11 points with five steals, three rebounds, and two assists, Smoot was named to the all-tournament team. Guerrero had seven boards, and Sean Miller finished with 12 points, five assists, and six rebounds.
