Latest Win Pushes Vassar Winning Streak to Four

By Steven Merritt

POUGHKEEPSIE – Senior Luke Adams connected on seven three-pointers and junior Nathan Denham tied his career-high with 18 points to lead the Vassar College Men’s Basketball team from 13 points down in the second half to pull off a 66-65 comeback victory against St. Lawrence on Saturday afternoon.

Vassar’s victory extends its winning streak to four games while improving to 13-6 overall and 9-3 in Liberty League play, which pushes the Brewers to second place in the standings. St. Lawrence falls to 12-6 overall and 6-6 in conference action.

First Half
The Saints opened the game with an 11-1 lead as Troy McPherson’s lay-in put the St. Lawrence lead to double digits at the 12:18 mark.

Adams drilled three straight triples to cut the SLU lead to 14-10 with 10 minutes to go in the first half.

Another Adams three-pointer along with a jumper from Denham evened the game at 15 with 8:02 to go in the opening half.

Vassar took its first lead of the contest at the 6:54 mark following a layup from Denham and Adams’ fifth triple of the first half at 20-17.

St. Lawrence closed the first half on a 9-2 run as Dan Anderson’s triple gave the Saints a 26-22 halftime advantage.

Vassar was limited to 34.8-percent overall in the first half while going 5-for-12 from beyond the three-point line.

SLU ended the first 20 minutes shooting 45.8-percent from the field and went 3-for-9 from bonus distance.

Second Half
St. Lawrence reeled off a 11-2 run to begin the second half as a three-point play from Gavin Macaulay put the Saints ahead 37-24 with 17:34 remaining.

VC answered with a 9-0 run behind six points from Denham and a triple from sophomore Shea Fitzgerald to get within four with 15:56 to go.

Another three-pointer from Anderson expanded the Saints lead to 46-37 at the 13:27 mark before 10 straight points from the Brewers put VC ahead 47-46 on a three-pointer from Fitzgerald.

An Adam Dudzinski three-pointer put SLU back ahead by four at the 9:11 mark until VC used a layup from senior Devyn Benson to push ahead 55-54.

The two squads continued to trade leads as St. Lawrence regained a four-point lead on a layup from Anderson with 3:05 remaining in regulation.

Back-to-back buckets from sophomore Sebastian Medina and Denham evened the game at 63 all with just over two minutes to go.

Trey Syroka made two free throws with 1:53 remaining before Adams connected on his seventh three-pointer of the game with 1:34 to go to put Vassar ahead 66-65.

Both teams went scoreless in the final minutes as SLU’s look at the horn bounced off the rim and Vassar scored its fourth straight win.

Vassar improved to 57.1-percent overall in the second half while going 6-for-12 from three and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

SLU finished the second half shooting 54.2-percent from the field and connected on 8-for-11 from three but only 5-for-8 from the free throw line.

For The Brewers
Adams scored a team-high 21 points off 7-for-9 shooting from three-point distance and added three assists and five rebounds off the bench.

Denham matched his career high with 18 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals while Fitzgerald added 13 points, five boards, two assists and three steals.

Lee chipped in seven points and three steals along with Medina and sophomore Kreekor Karageuzian each recording a game-high six assists.

For The Saints
Anderson poured in a game-high 26 points off the bench along with Dudzinski finishing with 15 points and three assists.

G. Macaulay tallied nine points while Aidan Macaulay chipped in five points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Andrew Cowan supplied four points, three steals and eight boards while Syroka added five assists and two steals.