Adam Dudzinski's 19 points led the way for the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team, as they downed visiting Vassar in a tight 57-56 victory on Friday evening at Burkman Gymnasium.

With the win, St. Lawrence drew back to .500 on their overall record at 9-9, and 7-4 in league play. Since dropping six in a row in November and December, St. Lawrence has won six of their last eight contests.

"We overcame a ton of adversity this week," said Saints head coach Chris Downs. "We have had a very difficult week as a team dealing with some circumstances outside of our control. To see this group show up and execute the way they did for 40 minutes against a fantastic Vassar team makes me very proud to be a Saint."

The contest was a defensive struggle from the start, characterized by high-intensity pressure and frequent lead changes. Vassar jumped out to an early 10-2 lead, powered by two quick three-pointers from Shea Fitzgerald.

 The Saints didn't let the lead get too large, however, and with eight minutes left a Dudzinski layup pulled the Saints within six down 16-11. Then, the turning point of the first half came when Dan Anderson sparked the defense with a steal, leading to a fast-break triple by Colton Suriano that cut the Vassar lead to three.

Shortly after, Dudzinski leveled the score at 17-17 with a clutch three-pointer of his own near the six-minute mark. The teams continued to trade baskets, entering halftime deadlocked at 28-28.

The second half was a defensive chess match marred by multiple lead changes over the course of the 20-minute period. With the Saints trailing 54-53 in the game's final minute, Dudzinski drew a foul and sank two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to give St. Lawrence a 55-53 lead. Dudzinski went 8-9 from the foul line over the evening, including sinking all three shots from the charity stripe on a foul at the arc with two minutes left.



Vassar responded immediately as Neuenhaus drew a foul on the ensuing possession, putting him at the foul line with 15 seconds on the clock down two. Crucially, he missed the first free throw, but then sank the second to put Vassar down one with seconds remaining.

That forced them to foul, but they sent Dudzinski to the line again and he sunk both to make it a 57-54 game with 11 seconds left. Vassar had a dunk at the five-second mark to make the game a one-point affair, but that's as close as they'd get as St. Lawrence handed the Brewers just their second Liberty League loss.

St. Lawrence returns to action Saturday when they host Bard at 4 p.m. inside Burkman Gymnasium.