POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Vassar College Men's Basketball team opened up Liberty League play on Friday evening as the Brewers fell in a tight 76-72 matchup with Ithaca at the Athletics and Fitness Center.

First year Shea Fitzgerald poured in a season-high 22 points for Vassar, who falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while Ithaca's Aidan Holmes tallied a game-high 28 points and improve to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in league action.

FIRST HALF

• Vassar opened up the contest with an 8-3 lead following triples from Fitzgerald and junior Alex Walters along with a bucket from sophomore Sacha Greenberg.
• Ithaca took its first lead on a three-pointer from Logan Wendell at 11-10 with 15:03 remaining as the two teams traded makes over the next six minutes.
• The Bombers extended their lead to 27-20 on back-to-back threes from Triston Wennersten and Holmes with 8:10 remaining.
• Gavin Schauder's jumper put Ithaca ahead by a game-high eight with four minutes left before the Brewers closed the first half with a 6-2 run on buckets from sophomore JP Miranda, first year Sebastian Medina and senior Case Parsons.
• Ithaca ended the first half shooting 39-percent and knocked down six three-pointers while Vassar shot a blistering 52-percent from the field and made two triples.

SECOND HALF

• The Brewers began the second half on an 11-2 run over the first three and a half minutes of the half, led by nine points from Fitzgerald, to take a 45-40 lead.
• Fitzgerald expanded the lead to 53-47 following a jumper and three free throws before the Bombers regained the lead at 56-55 on a bucket from Wendell with 9:35 remaining.
• A lay-in from Parsons at the 4:35 mark brought the Brewers within one at 63-62 until a triple from Holmes and a jumper from Evan Cabral pushed the Ithaca lead to eight at the 3:21 mark.
• Back-to-back buckets from Parsons along with a three from Walters cut the Ithaca lead down to one with 1:35 remaining before Holmes cashed a three-pointer with a minute left.
• Three made free throws from junior Luke Adams once again reduced the advantage to one with 17 seconds to go until three free throws from Andrew Geschickter put the Bombers up four as Vassar couldn't convert on late opportunities to tie the contest.
• Vassar finished the second half shooting 41.4-percent overall and made three triples while Ithaca shot 48.3-percent from the field and knocked down five three-pointers.

FOR THE BREWERS

• Fitzgerald finished with 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting and added three assists, two steals and two rebounds.
• Parsons tallied 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench along with Greenberg registering nine points, three boards and two steals.
• Walters added eight points and four rebounds and Medina recorded four points and eight rebounds.

FOR THE BOMBERS

• Holmes poured in 28 points on 11-for-19 from the field, including 6-for-11 from three-point range, while Wendell tallied 12 points and six assists.
• Cabral recorded eight points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists along with Wennersten adding seven points, nine boards and two steals.

GAME STATS

• Vassar shot 46.3-percent overall and made five three-pointers along with 17-for-21 from the free throw line.
• Ithaca finished shooting 42.9-percent from the field while knocking down 11 triples.
• The Brewers held a slim 14-12 edge in points off turnovers, second chance points at 19-12 and 38-28 in points in the paint.

UP NEXT

• Vassar welcomes Hobart to Poughkeepsie on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
• Ithaca heads to Bard to take on the Raptors on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.