Vassar Records Sweep With Victory Over Hobart

POUGHKEEPSIE – Three Brewers scored in double figures as the Vassar men’s basketball team won a physical 85-65 contest against Hobart on Saturday afternoon. Junior Ethan Ellis led the team with 17 points with 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Vassar moves to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference, while the Statesmen slip to 3-6 and 0-2 in the league.

Hobart took an early 8-6 lead following a layup from Aidan Rodgers. Then the Statesmen used a 6-0 run to take a seven-point lead at 14:10. Junior Zev Katz cut the streak, scoring off a feed from first-year Logan Scott to cut the lead to 9-14. Hobart’s Carter Meshanic netted the following two buckets to push the Statesmen advantage to nine, but a triple by Ellis made it 12-18 at 9:41.

Another 6-0 span by the Statesmen gave the visitors the game’s first double-digit lead. Then first-year Alan Cedeno drained a three at 7:02 off a Zach Johnson pass to begin an 8-0 Vassar run capped off with a triple from Scott. The Statesmen remained persistent, taking another ten-point lead at 2:34 when Aidan Rodgers connected for the layup.

Two consecutive three-pointers from Ellis and then Jack Rothenberg cut the Hobart lead to four. Ellis then drained a triple with five seconds left to close the half with the Brewers only down 33-34.

Vassar carried the momentum over into the second, using a 12-4 span to start the half to go up 45-38 at 15:14. The Brewers continued to hold the slight lead, but the Statesmen stayed around to tie 57-57 with 6:17 remaining. The Brewers regained the lead after Rothenberg stole the ball from Meshanic. He missed the layup attempt, but Scott grabbed the rebound and made the strong finish inside.

Vassar made five free throws in the final two minutes to hold on to the win.

Ellis finished with 17 points behind 6-of-8 shooting and had two steals. Johnson scored 13 points and grabbed seven boards with three assists. Mustafaj netted 10 points and had a team-high four assists, while Rothenberg led the Brewers with eight rebounds. Katz completed the game with a career-high eight points.

For the Statesmen, Meshanic scored a game-high 27 points by shooting 9-for-16. He grabbed eight boards as well.

As a team, the Brewers held the Statesmen to 1-of-10 shooting (10.0%) while shooting 9-of-24 (37.5%).