Vassar Men Toppled in Season Finale at Ithaca

ITHACA – 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.