Three members of the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team hit double-digit points, as they had their largest offensive output of the season on Friday night. They downed the visiting Vassar Brewers 80-55 at Burkman Gymnasium to open their weekend back-to-back.

With the positive result, the Saints get a crucial conference victory, improving to 8-3 overall and 2-3 in league play.

"We saw some very good basketball at both ends of the court today," said Saints head coach Chris Downs. "We are excited to play Bard on Saturday, and it won't be an easy game. The season is very long and we need to stay focused and keep building toward our ultimate goal."

The game began with Vassar earning the first points of the game, but they were only able to hold their lead for the first few possessions as St. Lawrence went up 7-6 after Aidan Macaulay went hard to the rim and drew a foul on the way up, draining back-to-back foul shots from the charity stripe at 15:33 of the opening half.

Macaulay then drained a three-ball two minutes later to extend the Saints lead. That continued into a 9-0 run and a 15-6 St. Lawrence advantage. Vassar was able to chip away from there and get the Saints' advantage down to three at its slimmest, but they wouldn't overtake the Scarlet and Brown.

After Aidan Macaulay drained another shot from beyond the arc and Adam Dudzinski put up two points of his own, that allowed St. Lawrence to establish some insurance. They ultimately led 38-33 at halftime.

St. Lawrence's offense continued to build momentum in the second half, leading to a big stat line. In the half's opening minutes, Vassar trimmed the lead down to four at 40-36 on a floating jumper from Kreekor Karageuzian. But St. Lawrence bent and didn't break. They scored seven of the next nine points, with Dudzinski getting four of those, to reestablish a lead.

Around the 14-minute mark, the Scarlet and Brown embarked on a 9-0 run that let them pull away from the Brewers. Troy McPherson and Trey Syroka each had four points in this stretch, allowing St. Lawrence to go up 60-44 just before the midpoint of the second stanza.

The Saints cruised to victory from there, only allowing 11 more points from Vassar via their stingy defense.



Dudzinski led the way for the Saints in points, registering 17 on the night. He also had the team-high in boards with seven, and was second with four assists. McPherson had 15 points for second on the Saints, and Aidan Macaulay checked in with 11 points. Dan Anderson had six rebounds and Syroka had six assists for the team high in that category.

St. Lawrence will now aim for the weekend sweep when they host Bard on Saturday.