DANBURY, CT - The Vassar College Men's Basketball team traveled to Western Connecticut State on Friday afternoon for the first game of the Hat City Classic as the Brewers fell 90-61 to the College of New Jersey. First year Avery Lee led the way for the Brewers with 12 points as they drop to 3-6 overall while the Lions improve to 10-3 on the season behind 17 points from Matthew Solomon and James Beckwith.

FIRST HALF

• The Lions opened the first half with the first eight points as Nick Koch and Beckwith each knocked down triples along with a bucket from Matthew Okorie.
• Vassar answered with five straight of its own following a triple from Lee and a lay-in from sophomore JP Miranda with 15:25 remaining.
• TCNJ's lead grew to double digits after a four-point play from Jack Vreeswyk and Solomon's layup put the Lions up 16-6 at the 12:47 mark.
• The Brewers cut the advantage in half on buckets from Lee and two free throws from first year Shea Fitzgerald with 9:39 left before Koch's bucket at the 8:04 mark put the Lions back up by 10.
• Miranda's layup and a three-pointer from senior Alex Walters, both off assists from senior Case Parsons, brought Vassar back within five with 6:51 to go in the first half.
• TCNJ reeled off a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to push its lead to 14 points following five points from David Alexandre and buckets from Jason Larranaga and Solomon with just under four minutes to go.
• Four straight points from first year Eric Zhang put the Brewers within 10 with three minutes left before the Lions ended the half on an 8-3 run to take a 42-27 lead into the halftime break.
• Vassar finished the first half shooting 30-percent from the field and just 4-for-17 from the three-point line while Lee had 12 points on 4-for-6 and made all three three-point attempts.
• TCNJ shot an efficient 46.7-percent overall in the first half and connected on 6-of-15 three-point attempts, led by 10 points from Koch and seven from Beckwith, Solomon and Alexandre.

SECOND HALF

• Both teams traded points in the first four minutes of the half as a lay-in from junior Devyn Benson cut the Lions lead down to 47-35 with 15:57 to go before an old-fashioned three-point play from Koch put TCNJ ahead by 15.
• Alexandre's steal and layup with 13 minutes left in the game pushed the Lions lead to 56-39 before a three-pointer from senior Logan Scott put the Brewers within 56-42 at the under 12 minute media timeout.
• Larranga's layup with 8:53 remaining put the Lions ahead by 22 before a three-point play from first year Sebastian Medina slowed the TCNJ run.
• Junior Luke Adams converted a strong driving layup with just under seven minutes to go to trim the lead down to 69-52 until a Larranaga triple and a bucket from Solomon pushed the Lions lead to 23 points.
• Two free throws from Solomon put TCNJ ahead by 25 points before buckets from Medina and Fitzgerald cut the lead down to 81-60 with two and a half minutes left.
• Thomas Menyhart's layup with 10 seconds remaining pushed the Lions lead to a game-high 29 points.
• Vassar closed the second half shooting 40.6-percent and converted on four three-pointers while TCNJ shot 45.7-percent from the field and knocked down five triples.

FOR THE BREWERS

• Lee tallied a team-high 12 points and five rebounds while Miranda finished with 10 points, three assists and two boards.
• Fitzgerald recorded six points, four rebounds and three assists along with Parsons adding three points and a team-high four assists.
• Scott registered four points and five boards along with sophomore Sacha Greenberg tallying six points.

FOR THE LIONS

• Solomon scored 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting along with eight rebounds while Beckwith tallied 17 points, including five triples, and added seven rebounds and five steals.
• Koch added 16 points and two assists while Okorie recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds along with a game-high three blocks.
• Alexandre put together an impressive day with nine points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block.

GAME STATS

• The Brewers finished the day shooting 35.5-percent overall along with making eight three-pointers and were 9-for-18 from the free throw line.
• TCNJ shot 46.2-percent overall while shooting 11-for-32 from three-point distance and were 19-for-23 from the free throw line.
• The Lions held a 34-22 edge in points in the paint along with a 17-13 edge in second chance points and a 21-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

UP NEXT

• Vassar wraps up play at the Hat City Classic with a 3:00 p.m. matchup tomorrow with the host Western Connecticut.
• TCNJ returns to NJAC play against William Paterson on Saturday, January 6th.