POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Vassar College Men's Basketball team battled with conference leading Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon as the Brewers fell late 61-56 to the Engineers on Senior Day at the Athletics and Fitness Center.

The Brewers fall to 9-14 overall and 7-9 in Liberty League play while the Engineers improve to 15-8 on the season and 12-4 in conference action.

FIRST HALF

• Vassar opened the game with a 9-1 lead as first year Avery Lee knocked down a triple along with buckets from first year Shea Fitzgerald, senior Case Parsons and junior Luke Adams.
• RPI's first field goal came at the 8:27 mark of the first half as Yechiel Stewart connected on a three-pointer to make it 14-10 Vassar.
• Dylan Matchett's jumper put the Engineers within one with 6:18 remaining before a three-point play from Jonny Angbazo put the Engineers ahead for the first time at 20-19.
• Vassar answered to regain the lead at 25-20 on a three-pointer from Parsons followed by sophomore JP Miranda's jumper keeping the lead at five with 2:15 left.
• After Matchett's triple put RPI within two at the 1:55 mark, Lee scored the final five points of the half for Vassar to put the Brewers ahead 33-26 at the half.
• Vassar shot 48-percent in the first half while going 2-for-5 from three and 7-for-10 from the free throw line.
• RPI was limited to 32-percent shooting in the first half, including 4-for-10 from three and 6-for-14 from the free throw stripe.

SECOND HALF

• Vassar's lead grew to double digits in the first minute of the second half when Fitzgerald connected on a three-pointer to go ahead 36-26.
• Back-to-back triples from Andrew Deppe and Matchett cut the lead to four with 17:32 to go and PJ Scalisi's three-pointer trimmed it to 37-35 a minute alter.
• Following a triple from junior Alex Walters to push Vassar ahead by five, RPI scored six of the next seven points to tie it at 43 on a Matchett bucket.
• RPI took its first lead of the second half following two free throws from Angbazo with 11:14 to go and a three-point play from Nate Tawiah-Boateng extended the lead to four.
• Three free throws from Stewart pushed the Engineers lead to 53-48 at the 7:26 mark until four straight points for Fitzgerald cut it to one.
• RPI scored the next six points as Angbazo tallied four along with two from Matchett to put the Engineers ahead 59-52 with 1:59 remaining.
• Fitzgerald's layup with eight seconds remaining cut the advantage down to four but RPI held on for a 63-58 victory.
• The Brewers closed the second half shooting 34.5-percent, including 2-for-9 from three-point range.
• RPI shot 47.8-percent in the second half while going 3-for-9 from three and 12-for-16 from the free throw line.

FOR THE BREWERS

• Fitzgerald recorded a game-high 23 points on 10-for-20 from the field and added three steals.
• Lee tallied 12 points off the bench while Parsons finished with eight points and six rebounds.
• Adams handed out a team-high three assists along with first year Kreekor Karageuzian recording two assists.

FOR THE ENGINEERS

• Angbazo led the way with 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting while Matchett added 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
• Stewart tallied 11 points off the bench while Deppe finished with five points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
• Scalisi recorded six points, five rebounds and three assists for the Engineers.

GAME STATISTICS

• Vassar finished the game shooting 40.7-percent overall while going 4-for-14 from three and 10-for-17 from the free throw line.
• RPI shot 39.6-percent from the field, including 7-for-19 from three, and 18-for-30 from the free throw stripe.
• The Brewers held a 30-20 edge in points in the paint along with a 9-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

UP NEXT

• Vassar heads north to take on Hobart on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.
• RPI makes the trek to the North Country to square off with Clarkson on Friday.