Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Matthew Pooley scored 27 points and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team held off Vassar College, 104-91, in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. The Engineers improve to 7-9 overall and 4-4 in the league, while the Brewers are now 6-9 and 2-4.

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.

A Daniel Martin (Cohasset, MA/Cohasset) dunk and two free throws by Matt Dixon (Troy, NY/Tamarac) gave the Engineers a 13-point edge (91-78) with 4:44 remaining, but Vassar came back with the next five points to trail by nine (91-83) with 2:43 to go. RPI's Brendan Farley (Burlington, MA/Burlington) then hit a long three-point shot from the top of the key and the Engineers held off the Brewers.

Pooley (Middletown, NY/Chapel Field Christian School) had eight points in the final two minutes to help seal the victory for RPI, which entered the game as the sixth highest scoring team in the country (90.1 points per game). He finished with 27 points on 10 of 13 shooting, including three three-pointers. Farley had 11 points to eclipse double figures.

For Vassar, senior forward Ethan Shanley (Old Town, ME/Old Town) had a game-high 31 points with three rebounds. Sophomore Evan Carberry (Metuchen, NJ/Metuchen) had 13 points and seven rebounds, while two others reached double figures for the Brewers, who shot 54.7% (35 for 64) from the field but had 33 turnovers, including 20 on steals by the Engineers.

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 made 21 first half field goals, including nine from three-point range, while forcing 19 turnovers. The Brewers managed to connect on 57% of their shots (16 of 28), but had just one three-point basket.

Pooley had 15 points in the game's first 20 minutes, while 11 other Engineers also had points. For Vassar, Shanley had 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting.

Rensselaer is back home on Friday evening when it faces first place Hobart College at 8pm. Vassar hosts St. Lawrence University at 8pm on Friday.