Ithaca, NY - Sophomore Parker Neuenhaus scored a career-high 31 points for the Vassar College Men's Basketball team on Saturday afternoon but the Brewers fell short in its regular season finale to Ithaca, 76-73.

Vassar finishes the season at 17-8 overall and 13-5 in conference play and will be the third seed in the Liberty League Championship. Ithaca closes the regular season at 10-15 overall and 9-9 in league action and will be seeded fifth in the Liberty League Championship.

First Half

• VC scored a 6-3 lead to begin the game behind buckets from Neuenhaus and juniors Kreekor Karageuzian and Sebastian Medina.
• The Bombers responded to take a 14-12 lead on five consecutive points from Matthew Zenker.
• Following a triple from sophomore Will Gregory to cut the deficit to one, Ithaca rattled off an 8-0 run as a Thomas McKiernan layup put the Bombers ahead 24-15 with 10 minutes left in the half.
• Vassar answered with a 8-0 run of its own to reduce the lead to one at the 7:20 mark following four points from Neuenhaus and a lay-in each from Karageuzian and senior Nathan Denham.
• The Brewers pulled ahead 32-28 at the 4:01 mark after four more points from Neuenhaus and a triple from first year Kas Mirza.
• A three from Yoav Regev and a tip-in from McKiernan put Ithaca back ahead 33-32 with two and a half minutes left.
• Four points from junior Shea Fitzgerald and another Neuenhaus make expanded the Vassar lead to five with 1:28 left in the first half.
• Four straight tallies from McKiernan brought the Bombers within one with 33 seconds left but a three-pointer from Gregory gave VC a 41-37 halftime lead.
• Vassar finished the first half shooting a blistering 54.6-percent overall and connected on 3-for-7 from three-point territory.
• Ithaca shot 40.6-percent from the field in the first half and buried 7-of-16 from beyond the three-point line.

Second Half

• A layup from Cole Wissink and a three from McKiernan put Ithaca back ahead 42-41 to begin the second half.
• Fitzgerald's jumper gave Vassar a 47-44 advantage at the 16:02 mark before the Bombers evened the score on a three-point play from Alex Penders.
• Both teams traded buckets over the next four minutes as Ithaca pulled ahead 58-53 on a three from Nick Lemmond with 11:50 to go.
• Ithaca ballooned its lead to 12 points at 67-55 after two free throws from Chris Leysath, a layup from Jaylon O'Neal and a jumper from Zenker.
• VC trimmed the lead to six on two lay-ins from Neuenhaus and a Medina lay-in with 6:51 left in regulation.
• Wissinl's layup with 2:57 left put the Bombers on top 73-66 before Vassar began to make a late run.
• Neuenhaus rattled off his own 6-1 run over the next two minutes to bring the Brewers within two with 39 seconds remaining.
• A Fitzgerald made free throw with 24 seconds left cut the Bombers deficit to just one point.
• VC got a stop which set up a look with six seconds left to take the lead but Ithaca got a defensive stop of its own and made two free throws in the final three seconds to earn the win.
• The Brewers ended the second 20 minutes shooting 45.2-percent but were held to 0-for-5 from three.
• Ithaca concluded the second half shooting 40.5-percent from the field and 3-for-12 from three-point distance.

For The Brewers

• Neuenhaus led the way with a career-high 31 points on 15-for-21 shooting and added four rebounds and two assists.
• Karageuzian recorded 10 points, five assists, three boards and two steals while Fitzgerald added nine points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists.
• Denham registered six points, six rebounds and two blocks along with Medina garnering four points, four rebounds and three assists.
• Gregory chipped in eight points off the bench.

For The Bombers

• McKiernan tallied 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals along with Zenker recording 18 points and four rebounds.
• Wissink added seven points and Leysath secured five points and seven rebounds.
• Lemmond totaled 10 points and five boards off the bench along with O'Neal posting four points, four assists and five rebounds.
• Cabral chipped in six points and six rebounds off the bench.

Game Statistics

• Vassar finished the game shooting 50-percent from the field but were held to 3-for-12 from three-point distance.
• Ithaca closed the contest shooting 40.6-percent overall and knocked down 10-for-28 from three-point range.
• The Brewers outscored the Bombers 54-30 in points in the paint and 18-17 in points off turnovers.
• Ithaca held a 17-8 edge in second chance points.

Up Next

• Vassar will play host to sixth-seeded Skidmore in the Liberty League First Round on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.
• Ithaca will travel to fourth-seeded St. Lawrence for the First Round on Tuesday.