POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – After being down by seven points at halftime, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team turned things around and outscored the Vassar College Brewers by 12 points in the second half en route to a 63-58 victory. The win gives RPI their sixth straight win, and 10 wins in their last 11 games.
 
FIRST HALF

• Vassar opened the game with a 9-1 lead as first year Avery Lee knocked down a triple along with buckets from first year Shea Fitzgerals, senior Case Parsons and junior Luke Adams.
• RPI's first field goal came at the 8:27 mark of the first half as Yechiel Stewart connected on a three-pointer to make it 14-10 Vassar.
• Dylan Matchett's jumper put the Engineers within one with 6:18 remaining before a three-point play from Jonny Angbazo put the Engineers ahead for the first time at 20-19.
• Vassar answered to regain the lead at 25-20 on a three-pointer from Parsons followed by sophomore JP Miranda's jumper keeping the lead at five with 2:15 left.
• After Matchett's triple put RPI within two at the 1:55 mark, Lee scored the final five points of the half for Vassar to put the Brewers ahead 33-26 at the half.
• Vassar shot 48-percent in the first half while going 2-for-5 from three and 7-for-10 from the free throw line.
• RPI was limited to 32-percent shooting in the first half, including 4-for-10 from three and 6-for-14 from the free throw stripe.

SECOND HALF

• Vassar's lead grew to double digits in the first minute of the second half when Fitzgerald connected on a three-pointer to go ahead 36-26.
• Back-to-back triples from Andrew Deppe and Matchett cut the lead to four with 17:32 to go and PJ Scalisi's three-pointer trimmed it to 37-35 a minute alter.
• Following a triple from junior Alex Walters to push Vassar ahead by five, RPI scored six of the next seven points to tie it at 43 on a Matchett bucket.
• RPI took its first lead of the second half following two free throws from Angbazo with 11:14 to go and a three-point play from Nate Tawiah-Boateng extended the lead to four.
• Three free throws from Stewart pushed the Engineers lead to 53-48 at the 7:26 mark until four straight points for Fitzgerald cut it to one.
• RPI scored the next six points as Angbazo tallied four along with two from Matchett to put the Engineers ahead 59-52 with 1:59 remaining.
• Fitzgerald's layup with eight seconds remaining cut the advantage down to four but RPI held on for a 63-58 victory.
• The Brewers closed the second half shooting 34.5-percent, including 2-for-9 from three-point range.
• RPI shot 47.8-percent in the second half while going 3-for-9 from three and 12-for-16 from the free throw line.

FOR THE BREWERS

• Fitzgerald recorded a game-high 23 points on 10-for-20 from the field and added three steals.
• Lee tallied 12 points off the bench while Parsons finished with eight points and six rebounds.
• Adams handed out a team-high three assists along with first year Kreekor Karageuzian recording two assists.

FOR THE ENGINEERS

• Angbazo led the way with 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting while Matchett added 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
• Stewart tallied 11 points off the bench while Deppe finished with five points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
• Scalisi recorded six points, five rebounds and three assists for the Engineers.

GAME STATISTICS

• Vassar finished the game shooting 40.7-percent overall while going 4-for-14 from three and 10-for-17 from the free throw line.
• RPI shot 39.6-percent from the field, including 7-for-19 from three, and 18-for-30 from the free throw stripe.
• The Brewers held a 30-20 edge in points in the paint along with a 9-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

UP NEXT

• RPI makes the trek to the North Country to square off with Clarkson on Friday.