POUGHKEEPSIE, NY -- After trailing for all but three minutes early in the game, the Vassar men's basketball team battled back to regain the lead with 1:30 left to play and held on for a dramatic 72-65 victory over Union on Friday at the Athletics & Fitness Center.
Vassar improves to 12-3, 3-2 in the league and hosts Skidmore tomorrow. The Dutchmen drop to 4-12, 0-6 in the Liberty League and look to notch their first conference victory at RPI on Saturday.
Trailing by as much as 11 points in the second half, the Brewers managed to cut the lead to one with 8:15 to play. After junior Joe Davis (East Amherst, NY) swatted away a Dutchman shot he raced to the other end where Tyson Brazell (Salt Lake City, UT/Waterford School) found him for a two-handed dunk, igniting the crowd and cutting the Union lead to 51-50.
The Dutchmen managed to fend off the Brewers in the next couple minutes but the Vassar defense, led by senior Jon Swartz (Nanuet, NY), proved the difference in the game. In the final three minutes, Swartz nabbed five steals, all of them leading to Brewer baskets including three lay-ups of his own. Swartz gave Vassar its first lead of the half, 60-59, with a steal and lay-in with 1:30 to play. A repeat performance 35 seconds later gave Vassar a three-point lead. Not finished yet, Swartz picked off a Dutchman pass with 39 seconds to play and sent the ball up-court to Lawrence Avitabile (Southington, CT). Avitabile sank the lay-up, along with drawing an intentional foul. The senior forward sank both free throws to convert the rare four-point play and give his team a 66-59 lead with 36 seconds to play.
The first half featured 15 Union turnovers and 16 Vassar turnovers. A lay-up by Avitabile just over three minutes into the game gave the Brewers a 6-2 lead, but Vassar would not score for the next five and a half minutes. However, with neither team taking care of the ball on offense, the Dutchmen were unable to pull away during Vassar's scoring drought. The Brewers managed to tie the game up on a Taylor Petrucelli (Stratford, CT) three-pointer, knotting the low-scoring affair at 16 with 8:51 to play. However, ignited by seven points from sophomore Joey Lokitis (Norton, MA), the Dutchmen went on a 13-0 run in the next four minutes and a jumper by Delon McAllister (Irvington, NJ) gave Union a 29-16 lead – its largest of the game – with 4:58 to play in the half. A block, an assist, and four points from Brazell in the next minute helped the Brewers cut the lead, and Vassar went into the locker room trailing 26-33.
Brazell led Vassar with a game-high 22 points, nailing 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. Avitabile chipped in with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double, the eighth of his season and the 35th of his career. Avitabile also dished out four assists. Swartz finished with nine points and five steals.
Union was led by a 19-point, six-rebound, four-steal performance from junior Drew Desmarais (St. James, NY). Lokitis chipped in with 16 points, while Drew Goldstein (Philadelphia, PA) added 10 points, five assists, and four steals. Kyle Grimm (Sherrill, NY) pulled down a season high 11 boards for the Dutchmen.
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