Rochester, NY - Junior Nathan Denham scored a career-high 21 points on 10-for-12 from the field as the Vassar College Men's Basketball team scored 55 second half points to hold off RIT and earn a 91-87 road victory over the Tigers on Friday evening. Vassar's record improves to 15-7 overall and 11-4 in Liberty League play, which moves them to second place outright, while RIT falls to 7-15 on the season and 3-12 in conference action.

First Half

• The two squads traded buckets in the early going as a three-pointer from sophomore Avery Lee pushed the Brewers ahead 12-7 at the 16:43 mark.
• Back-to-back makes from Zac Ditzel and Matt Caggiano pushed the Tigers ahead 14-13 with 14:15 remaining.
• Neither team could separate by more than two points until a Chase Dickens triple gave RIT a 27-23 lead with just under nine minutes left in the opening period.
• Senior Luke Adams got Vassar back within two points on a three-pointer at the 7:54 mark.
• The Tigers lead grew to a first half high seven points on a Nolan Smith lay-in at 35-28 before back-to-back layups from senior Devyn Benson cut the lead down to 35-32 with 4:33 remaining.
• A pull up jumper from sophomore Shea Fitzgerald got the Brewers within 37-36 with just over a minute left in the half before buckets from Caggiano and Danny Cohen gave RIT a 41-36 lead at the half.
• Vassar finished the opening 20 minutes shooting 40.6-percent overall while connecting on 5-for-14 from beyond three-point distance.
• RIT shot a blazing 59.3-percent from the field and finished 4-for-12 from the three-point line.

Second Half

• Vassar opened the second half on an 18-4 run behind five consecutive points from sophomore Kreekor Karageuzian and Fitzgerald's layup put the Brewers ahead 54-45 at the 15:06 mark.
• The lead expanded to double digits at 13 points following a dunk from Denham and a trey from Fitzgerald to go ahead 60-47 with 13:50 remaining.
• Ditzel's jumper trimmed the lead back to single digits with 10:46 to go at 66-58.
• Following a three-pointer from Luke Granto to get RIT within 70-63, VC rattled off a 9-2 run to earn a 79-65 lead on a Denham bucket with 6:29 left in regulation.
• A reverse lay-in from sophomore Eric Zhang kept VC ahead by double digits at 86-73 with just over four minutes remaining.
• RIT went on a 14-2 run over the next three minutes as Ditzel's three-pointer put the Tigers within one at 88-87 with 1:33 remaining.
• Vassar held the Tigers off the board in the final minute and a half as a three-point play from Lee with 10 seconds left put the Brewers ahead by two possessions.
• VC closed the second half shooting a blistering 62.2-percent overall along with going 3-for-9 from three-point distance.
• RIT finished the final 20 minutes shooting 54.3-percent from the field and 4-for-13 from beyond the three-point line.

For The Brewers

• Denham poured in his career-high 21 points on 10-for-12 shooting and also tallied seven rebounds.
• Lee garnered 21 points along with Fitzgerald finishing with 13 points, seven assists and seven boards.
• Sophomore Sebastian Medina registered seven points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals along with Karageuzian tallying five points, a game-high eight assists and two steals.
• Adams and Benson each chipped in eight points off the bench.

For The Tigers

• Ditzel recorded a game-high 27 points on 11-for-16 shooting along with grabbing six rebounds.
• Caggiano tallied 17 points and seven assists along with Josiah Turner adding 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench.
• Granto and Dickens each chipped in eight points off the bench.

Game Statistics

• Vassar closed the contest shooting 52.2-percent from the field while going 8-for-23 from three and 11-for-13 from the free throw line.
• RIT finished the evening shooting 56.5-percent overall while connecting on 8-for-25 from three-point territory and 9-for-10 from the free throw stripe.
• Points off turnovers were even at 12 apiece while Vassar held a slim 52-50 advantage in points in the paint.
• The Brewers also held a 19-12 edge in second chance points while the Tigers had a 38-24 advantage in bench points.

Up Next

• Vassar plays its final road regular season contest in a big matchup with conference-leading RPI at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow.
• RIT will host Skidmore tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.