Brewers Dominate Boards To Down Saints

CANTON – Two 20-point scorers and a 49-20 rebound advantage helped the Vassar men’s basketball team to a 77-61 victory over St. Lawrence on Saturday afternoon. The Brewers now move to 8-11 overall and 4-8 in the Liberty League. St. Lawrence drops to 7-11 and 5-7, respectively.

Junior Zach Bromfeld led the team with a season-high 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting (71.4 percent), while freshman Jack Rothenberg netted a career-high 21 points on a perfect 9-of-9 from the field with two three-pointers. He also grabbed a career-best nine boards.

Vassar opened on a 7-0 run to start the game and never relinquished the lead afterward. St. Lawrence broke the streak after Brandon Arnold drained a three-pointer at 16:14, but freshman Zach Johnson responded 20 seconds later when he made a layup off a Bromfeld feed. The Saints would cut the lead to six, but Rothenberg scored to spur a 12-2 Vassar run until 9:28. During that span, Rothenberg accounted for seven points, with Avni Mustafaj netting a trey.

Senior Josh Brownridge pushed the lead to 15 after connecting on a pair of free throws, but eight unanswered Saints’ points cut the lead to 29-22 with less than four minutes. Another St. Lawrence run made it a two-point game until Johnson scored the next three points. Bromfeld netted a buzz-beater layup to make it 36-29 at the break.

Playing from behind, St. Lawrence rode out on a 6-0 run to start the second half, cutting the lead to 36-35. The action remained within four points for the next six minutes until first-year Kevin McAuliffe sank a triple off a pass from Kyle Kappes. In the next possession, freshman Joey Sacco stole the ball from Trent Adamson and scored to push the lead to 49-42.

The Saints chipped back in, but seven straight points from Rothenberg pushed the lead to 12 at the ten-minute mark. Vassar kept pulling away soon after, leading by as much as 16 to secure the victory.

Coming off the bench, Johnson finished with 11 points and grabbed a career-best 13 rebounds, with 11 being offensive boards. Bromfeld grabbed nine rebounds, while Lance Tebay had seven. Rothenberg also dished out a season-high five assists and tallied two steals.