Men's Basketball | 1/21/2012 5:55:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT (6-10, 2-5 Liberty League) men's basketball team was defeated by Vassar College (6-8, 2-3 Liberty League) 73-63 in Liberty League action from Clark Gym on Saturday afternoon. RIT fell behind by 10 points early in the second half, cut the Brewers lead to five points late, but came up short in the end, dropping third game in four tries.

With the score tied at the half, Vassar opened the second half with a 10-0 run, taking a 43-33 lead on a layup by Alex Snyder at the 13:38 mark.

A layup and a free throw by Bob Schuster (Livonia, NY/Livonia) with 8:13 to play in regulation cut the Brewers back to six points at 49-43. Schuster finished with seven points off the bench and grabbed five rebounds.

Trailing by 11 points with five minutes to play, the Tigers went on a mini-run, cutting the lead to 60-65 on a driving layup by Jameel Balenton (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers) with 1:50 to play.

The Brewers outscored RIT 9-2 over the final 1:05 to close out the game.

RIT shot 48.1 percent from the floor, but were 3-for-15 from behind the arc. Vassar held a 38-32 rebounding edge and scored 14 second chance points.

Brendan Harder (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) led RIT with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Gabe Nicasio (Essex Junction, VT/Essex) scored 12 points off the bench, while Justin Heisig (Levittown, NY/Island Trees) finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Evan Carberry led Vassar with 17 points. Alex Snyder tallied 11 points , while Jon Herzog added 14 points.

RIT returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 24 when they face Union College at 8 pm in Schenectady, New York.