TROY, NY (January 24, 2012) – Senior captain Ethan Shanley erupted for a career high 31 points but the Vassar College men's basketball team fell 104-91 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  on Tuesday night in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena.

Rensselaer had a seemingly comfortable 26-point lead, 75-49, with 14:50 left in the second half. However, Vassar scored the next eight points in less than two minutes to cut the deficit to 75-57 and later went on a 15-4 run to pull within nine points, 87-78, with just under six minutes left.

Vassar (6-9, 2-4 Liberty) hosts St. Lawrence University at 8:00 pm on Friday at the AFC and will honor the Liberty League Champion men's soccer team at halftime. RPI (7-9, 4-4 Liberty) is back home on Friday evening where it faces first place Hobart College at 8:00 pm.

During the 15-4 run, Shanley tallied five points, Johnny Mrlik had four points, Evan Carberry had three, and Nick Justiz capped the spurt with a triple. RPI responded with a Daniel Martin dunk and two free throws by Matt Dixon for a 13-point edge (91-78) with 4:44 remaining. Vassar came back with the next five points on three free throws and a layup by Shanley to trail by eight (91-83) with 2:43 to go. It was the closest Vassar came to taking the lead as RPI's Brendan Farley then hit a long three-point shot from the top of the key and the Engineers held off the Brewers.

RPI opened the game by scoring 10 of the first 12 points, including eight from Pooley, in the first 56 seconds. The Engineers did not trail in the first half, although Vassar got as close as four points (29-25) with 8:13 remaining. Rensselaer answered with consistent long-range shooting to hold a 55-40 edge at the break.

RPI drained nine three-pointers and held a 25-3 advantage in points off turnovers in the first half, a 47-13 edge for the game. The Brewers connected on 57% of their shots (16-of-28), but had just one three-point basket. Ju

For Vassar, Shanley had a game-high 31 points with three rebounds. Carberry had 13 points and nine rebounds. Justiz picked up 12 points and freshman Luka Ladan posted 10 points. Mrlik grabbed a game-high 10 boards as Vassar outrebounded RPI 48-32.

Pooley had eight points in the final two minutes to help seal the victory for RPI, finishing with 27 points on 10 of 13 shooting, including three three-pointers. Farley had 11 points to eclipse double figures.