POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 17, 2017) — The Vassar College men's basketball team (6-19, 2-14 Liberty) fell 73-53 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (12-10, 6-8 Liberty) in the season finale at the Athletics & Fitness Center on Friday.
Alex Seff and Hunter Gettings led the Brewers in scoring with 12 and 11 respective points, while Owen Murray added eight points and a game-best 10 boards.
The Brewers shot 38 percent from the floor, 26 percent (7-of-27) from distance and 60 percent from the line, while their visitors shot 45, 41 (9-of-22) and 53 percent, respectively.
Andreas Kontopidis poured in 23 points, Brian Hatcher added 15 and Jonathan Luster finished with 13 to round out the Engineers' top scorers. Kontopodis also grabbed nine boards, as RPI out-rebounded Vassar, 41-32.
Vassar played fairly even with RPI, never trailing by more than two possessions through the first 11:47. Murray highlighted the early goings, scoring two straight VC field goals before assisting on a third to Mattie Mrlik to make it a two-point game, 15-13.
Fellow freshman Kyle Kappes hit a triple on the following Brewer possession, 17-16, but the Engineers responded with a 16-3 run to take a 33-19 lead. Kontopodis capped the run with five straight points, including a three-point play.
Chris Gallivan converted on a three-point play himself to make it a 33-22 ballgame, but RPI bridged a 12-5 run over the two halves to take a 45-27 lead on Luster's triple early in the second period.
That's when Vassar found a burst of energy. Seff sparked an 8-0 run with a triple before Tony Caletti converted on a three-point play and a layup, 45-35, with 15:39 remaining. That was the closest the Brewers came to flipping the lead, as the Engineers scored 17 of the next 22 points.
Gettings went on a run of his own, scoring eight straight points for the Brewers on a pair of free throws and a pair of triples from Browne, 63-48.
After Hatcher hit a pair from the line, Seff muscled his way through the lane before flipping up a reverse layup, 65-50. Hatcher hit back with a layup of his own before Gettings drained his third triple over a 2:01 span, 67-53.
The Engineers scored the final six points of the game to win their third in four games.
Vassar will graduate three seniors in Mickey Adams, Ryan Huegel and Elijah Winston.
—VASSAR—