ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's basketball team (8-8, 4-3 Liberty League) fell to Vassar College (7-8, 3-3 Liberty League) 74-63 in Liberty League action from Clark Gymnasium on Friday evening. The Tigers came into Friday's action atop the Liberty League standings.

RIT shot 45.9 percent from the floor on 28-of-61 from the floor. The Tigers went 4-of-15 from 3-point land, and went just 3-of-8 from the foul line. AJ Horde (Oak Park, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) led the Tigers with 19 and five assists. Kamron Davis (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) added 10 points and led the Tigers with eight rebounds. Mitch Herman (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) added nine points and six rebounds for the Tigers.

Erikson Wasyl led Vassar with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Paul Grinde tallied a double double for the Brewers with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Jesse Browne scored 14 points and had four assists and two steals for the Brewers, who shot 44.8 percent from the floor.

RIT led briefly in the first half when Lopez opened the scoring with a layup inside the first minute of the game. The Brewers took the lead on a 3-pointer from Mickey Adams.

RIT hung around in the first half, never trailing by more than six points. Browne gave the Brewers a 30-24 lead with 3:28 to play in the half, equaling their largest lead of the half. Herman drained a three on RIT's next possession cutting the lead to 30-27.
 
After a Vassar miss Horde laid the ball in making it a 30-29 game. After a Grinde bucket Justin Schneider (Aurora, NY/Southern Cayuga) took a feed from Lopez and scored with 1:10 to play making it 32-31. Browne scored with seven seconds to play in the half, giving Vassar a 34-31 lead at the break.

RIT shot 46.7 percent from the floor in the first half led by Schneider and Herman who each score six points.
 
Vassar opened the second half on a 16-9 run, taking a 50-41 lead on a layup by Alex Seff with 13:31 to play. After a Horde jumper made it 50-43, Browne nailed a jumper with 12:31 to play equaling the Brewers largest lead of the game.

The Tigers got to within three points with 6:51 to play when Horde got the rebound off a miss, drove the length of the floor and scored. After a Vassar miss, Horde came down and scored again with 6:18 to play, making it a one-point game at 56-55.

A quick 7-0 burst by the Brewers eased the lead back to eight points on a bucket by Seff with 4:36 to play. Wasyl gave the Brewers their largest lead of the game at 55-56 with 2:58 on his deep three pointer.

Vassar held a resounding 45-32 rebounding edge. The Tigers scored 30 points in the paint and six second chance points.

The Tigers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 23 when RIT hosts Bard College at 4 p.m. at Clark Gym.