POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Led by Trent Adamson's 16 points, the St. Lawrence Saints earned a 57-49 road victory over the Vassar College Men's Basketball team on Friday night at the AFC Gymnasium. Vassar falls to 11-7 overall and 7-4 in league action while the Saints improve to 10-6 and 6-4 in Liberty League play.

The Saints rolled out to a 9-3 lead in the opening eight and a half minutes as Liam McDonald buried a three-pointer at the 11:30 mark to go ahead by six. Aidan Macaulay's three-pointer at the 10:50 mark put St. Lawrence up nine but senior Ethan Ellis drilled a three-pointer and then classmate Avni Mustafaj converted two free throws to cut the lead down to four (12-8).

St. Lawrence responded with six straight points on buckets from Macaulay, Jack Wirtanen and Will Engelhardt to push its lead up to double digits with 7:21 left in the opening half (18-8). The Saints' lead grew to 15 points following an and-one opportunity from Trent Adamson with 3:05 remaining at 25-10. Senior Jack Rothenberg recorded a bucket with 2:21 remaining followed by a triple from sophomore Alan Cedeno that cut the lead down to 10 but the Saints closed the half with two straight lay-ins from Adamson to take a 29-15 lead into the halftime break.

Both teams traded buckets in the early minutes of the second half as St. Lawrence's lead jumped to as many as 17 on a lay-in from Trey Syroka at the 16:49 mark. Mustafaj's old fashioned three-point play with 14:16 remaining reduced the St. Lawrence lead to 11 (38-27) and back-to-back layups from senior Zev Katz brought the Brewers within seven at 38-31.

A mid-range jumper from sophomore Luke Adams and a layup from Rothenberg put VC within five at 40-35 with nine and a half minutes left in regulation. The Saints answered with a bucket from Syroka but Mustafaj countered with a deep triple for Vassar to get within four at the 7:30 mark. 

St. Lawrence went on a 8-1 run over the next three minutes as Adamson tallied four points along with an A. Macaulay jumper to go ahead by 11 with 4:02 left (50-39). Back-to-back buckets from Adams and Mustafaj trimmed the lead back to single digits at 50-43 at the 2:43 mark of the second half. Vassar would get the contest within five after a Rothenberg lay-in with 54 seconds remaining but St. Lawrence converted its free throws down the stretch and earned a 57-49 victory.

Mustafaj tallied a team-high 16 points for Vassar and added four rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. Katz scored nine points while Rothenberg finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Ellis chipped in six points while Adams had four points, three rebounds and a team-high four assists off the bench.

Adamson led the way for the Saints as he had 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting and had eight boards. A. Macaulay added 10 points, three rebounds and two assists while Syroka chipped in nine points, four boards and three steals. Englehardt added seven points along with a rebound, block and an assist.

The Brewers finished the evening shooting 36.0-percent from the field and made five three-pointers while St. Lawrence shot 44.9-percent overall and made three triples. The Saints held the edge in points off turnovers at 15-9 as well as second chance points at 7-4.

Vassar will return to the court tomorrow afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off against Clarkson at the AFC Gymnasium. St. Lawrence will head north to take on Bard on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.