Box Score
QUEENS, N.Y.—In the Gryphons' final conference game of the season, Sarah Lawrence College men's basketball was upended by Vaughn College, 85-57, in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Elmcor Recreation Center on Tuesday.

With the loss, SLC (9-14, 4-3 HVIAC) was relegated to a fourth-place finish in the league standings, missing out on its first HVIAC postseason berth by virtue of tiebreaker. Vaughn College (13-10, 5-2 HVIAC) clinched a spot as the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the tournament.

Vaughn set the early pace, scoring the first 15 points of the game while holding the Green and White scoreless for nearly five minutes. The Gryphons rallied to close the gap to six points at 18-12, but a 9-0 Warrior run inflated the lead to 29-14. SLC trailed at the break, 39-24.

SLC again got into trouble early, as the Gryphons were denied in their first five possessions of the second half while Vaughn scored 11 points. The Warriors accumulated their largest lead at 83-47, and though Sarah Lawrence responded by scoring the next 10 points, but the rally was too-little, too-late, and time expired on Vaughn's 85-57 win.

Sarah Lawrence struggled from beyond the arc, converting just 2-of-13 (15%) from three-point territory. The Gryphons were perfect from the foul line but only drew nine free-throw attempts. On the boards, SLC was held to just six offensive rebounds, and Vaughn collected 22 under its own basket.

Rookie Mat Gerak (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) posted a team-best 17 points on the evening while making five straight attempts from the foul line and collecting six rebounds. Gerak has emerged as a late-season asset for the Gryphons, averaging 12.7 points over the last seven games; he also moved into sixth in the HVIAC in free-throw shooting percentage.

First-year guard Wyatt Rocheleau (San Jose, Calif./Christopher) added nine points for the Gryphons, while classmate Niko Yuvienco (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) also tallied nine points while grabbing three steals.

HVIAC Rookie of the Week Graham Gilleran (San Francisco, Calif./Archbishop Riordan) was held to eight points and four rebounds while dishing three assists. Scoring leader Stevan Radosavljevic (Lazarevac, Serbia/Grammar School Lazarevac) and Niels Kjer (Manila, Philippines/Brent International School Manila) contributed half a dozen points apiece, and Juan Sucre (Caracas, Venezuela/ASFM (Monterrey, Mexico)) rounded out the scoring with a jumper in the final minute.

For Vaughn, Rashad Luckett led the game with 20 points while adding 10 rebounds. Eric McDonald also had a double-double on 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Jared Ndiba scored 12 points, and Michael Pena reached double figures with 10 points.

The Gryphons' season marks their first-ever winning conference record and their best-ever finish in the conference standings. In six prior seasons in the HVMAC, SLC totaled two league wins. In 2014-15, Sarah Lawrence will depart the HVIAC and begin play in the Skyline Conference.

Thursday's season finale against Cooper Union has been postponed. The game is tentatively rescheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 25.