News Release

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — Vassar's men's basketball team opened up its Liberty League play with a resounding 75-47 victory over visiting Skidmore on Friday at the Athletics & Fitness Center.
The Brewers, who have won six straight games and all seven games at home, improve to 7-3 on the season and host Union College on Saturday. The Thoroughbreds drop to 1-10, 0-2 in league play and travel to RPI on Saturday.
The Brewers set the tone of the game early as Tyson Brazell (Salt Lake City, UT/Waterford) sank a three-pointer, a jumper, and a put-back on an offensive rebound to give his team a 7-0 lead. Jake Shechtman (Wynnewood, PA/The Shipley School) gave Skidmore its first points of the game off a jumper with 16:23 to play in the half. The Thoroughbreds struggled offensively in first half, as the Brewers held Skidmore to 12 first half points. A stifling Vassar defense forced Skidmore to take tough shots, resulting in a 22.7% shooting percentage in the first half. Additionally, Skidmore had few second chances, as Vassar controlled the defensive boards, allowing only three Thoroughbred offensive rebounds.
Brazell led the offensive charge for the Brewers in the first half, netting 11 points of his game-high 18 points along with grabbing seven of his nine rebounds, also a game-high.
Vassar's six game winning streak is the longest since the 1999-2000 season when the Brewers went 18-9.
Skidmore played the Brewers evenly in the first five minutes of the second half, but a 15-2 Vassar run in the next five minutes gave the Brewers its commanding lead. The Thoroughbreds improved their shooting in the second half to 41.4 percent from the field, however the Brewers countered by shooting a blistering 75 percent from the field and the three-point line.
Lawrence Avitabile (Southington, CT/Southington) added eleven points and four assists for the Brewers and Brian Butterworth (Hamilton, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) chipped in with eight points.
Jonah Haviland-Markovitz (Brooklyn, NY/Packer Collegiate Institute) led Skidmore with ten points and Bobby Langford (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) contributed eight.