POUGHKEEPSIE – The Vassar men’s basketball team faced their third ranked opponent of the season as they faced No. 18 Wesleyan University on Wednesday night in the AFC. The Cardinals came out on top with an 83-68 win.
Senior Jesse Browne led the Brewers offense with 19 points while also adding three assists and two rebounds. Paul Grinde added 15 points and Hunter Gettings had his second straight outing with double figure points chipping in 12 points.
The Brewers once again started off strong taking the lead in the first five minutes of the contest. Zach Bromfeld was in the starting lineup for the first time this season and opened the game with a layup. Grinde knocked down a three for Vassar’s next bucket and the Brewers had an early 5-2 lead.
Browne’s layup two minutes later had Vassar ahead 11-7 at the 15:35 mark. The Cardinal tied the game at 11-11 with a layup by Nathan Krill and slowly began to pull away. Vassar kept it close in the first half, heading into the locker room down by 10.
The Cardinals came out of the locker and quickly added to their lead, scoring on their first five possessions to push the advantage to 17. The Brewers took a timeout to regroup and cut the lead down to 11 off a Gettings three-pointer and Grinde’s and-one play.
Wesleyan took back momentum and closed out the game, not allowing Vassar to get any closer. The Brewers scored 40 points in the second while shooting 48.4% from the field and 50% from deep during the final 20 minutes.
For the game, they shot 41.7% from the floor and 40.9% from beyond the arc.
Vassar will break during their Final Exams and retake to the court on December 29 at the CUA-Holiday Inn College Park Classic in Washington, D.C. where they will face Catholic University at 5:00 p.m.