The victory puts Vassar in the championship game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Brewers will face either Oberlin College or Elms College.
Butterworth’s three-pointer gave the Brewers a 53-51 lead with seven minutes remaining and set the stage for a strong Vassar finish. Avitabile then sank two free throws with 6:40 to play to extend the Brewers lead to 55-51. Avitabile, last year’s Liberty League Rookie of the Year, scored six of his 10 points in the final seven minutes from the foul line to cap off a 12-of-16 evening from the charity stripe.
Trailing 32-28 at the intermission, Avitabile gave Vassar its first lead since the opening minute when he sank a jumper to put the Brewers in front 35-34 early in the second half. Vassar extended its lead to 40-36 before St. Joseph’s responded with a surge of its own. Freshman forward Elbie Murphy (Loudonville, NY/ Albany Academy) scored five points during a 7-0 Monks run to put St. Joseph’s in front 49-44.
The Monks maintained their lead until the seven minute mark when Butterworth, who finished with seven points in his collegiate debut, gave Vassar the lead for good. Avitabile picked up where he left off last season with 10 rebounds to record his eighth career double-double.
Senior guard Will Byrne (Chelmsford, MA/Concord Academy) added nine points and hit two, three-point field goals for Vassar.
Led by the play of senior guard Noah LaRoche (Exeter, NH/Exeter) St. Joseph’s jumped out to an early 10-4 advantage. Vassar settled down midway through the first half and Avitabile capped a 7-2 run to pull the Brewers within one at 17-16 with nine minutes left in the opening half.
The Monks answered with a 6-0 surge of their own and two free throws by Murphy put St. Joseph’s back in front 23-16 with 8:19 left in the half. Murphy led the Monks with 19 points off the bench in his first collegiate game.
St. Joseph’s led by as many as eight in the opening half on three occasions. A basket by junior forward Bernard Castor (Mattapan, MA/Lyman Ward Military) with 5:20 left in the half put the Monks in front 29-21.
SJCMB05 vs VASSAR 11/18/05 6:00 pm at Poughkeepsie, NY At Poughkeepsie, NY VASSAR 66, SJCMB05 63 SJCMB05 (0-1) Elbie Murphy 5-6 7-9 19; Noah LaRoche 5-8 0-1 12; Matt Plummer 3-9 2-4 9; Marcus Alexander 3-8 0-0 6; Chad Pulkkinen 2-10 0-0 5; Scot Vachon 2-2 0-0 4; Mitch Ouellet 2-3 0-0 4; Bernard Castor 2-4 0-0 4; Matt Cogswell 0-0 0-0 0; Joey Schacht 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 9-14 63. VASSAR (1-0) Lawrence Avitabile 7-9 12-16 26; Will Byrne 2-7 3-4 9; Brian Butterworth 2-6 2-2 7; William Kieffer 3-8 1-2 7; Daniel Forcella 3-9 0-0 6; Joe Davis 1-4 2-2 5; Lenny Holt 1-4 1-1 3; Tyson Brazell 1-3 0-0 2; Evan Hannay 0-1 1-3 1; Kyle Mangus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 22-30 66. SJCMB05....................... 32 31 - 63 VASSAR........................ 28 38 - 66 3-point goals-SJCMB05 6-13 (Noah LaRoche 2-2; Elbie Murphy 2-2; Matt Plummer 1-2; Chad Pulkkinen 1-5; Joey Schacht 0-1; Marcus Alexander 0-1), VASSAR 4-18 (Will Byrne 2-7; Joe Davis 1-2; Brian Butterworth 1-4; Daniel Forcella 0-4; William Kieffer 0-1). Fouled out--SJCMB05-None, VASSAR-None. Rebounds-SJCMB05 26 (Mitch Ouellet 6), VASSAR 34 (Lawrence Avitabile 10). Assists-SJCMB05 10 (Noah LaRoche 2; Marcus Alexander 2; Chad Pulkkinen 2), VASSAR 11 (William Kieffer 4). Total fouls-SJCMB05 20, VASSAR 16. A-300