POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - This is what Mountaineers do in the face of a seemingly insurmountable challenge - they climb. Trailing by 13 points with nine minutes to play, the Southern Vermont College men's basketball team mounted a furious rally to whittle host Vassar's lead down to a basket with under a minute remaining, before coming out on the short end of a 65-62 final score in their season opener at the Athletics & Fitness Center on Saturday afternoon.

SVC had one final chance to force overtime in the barn-burner, on a three-point attempt by sophomore guard Lance Spratling at the buzzer that ultimately proved long.

"It was a good game," said SVC's Emory Wheeler, who connected on one of the Mountaineers' trio of three-pointers. "[Vassar is] a good team and we had a chance to tie it up at the end."

The Mountaineers (0-1) got standout performances in the defeat from freshman forward Deandre Kennedy-Ebron (a game-high 22 points) and junior captain Joe Karnik (12 points, a game-high 11 rebounds). Spratling racked up 14 points and nine rebounds.

Vassar Freshman guard Caleb McGraw led the Brewers (1-0) with 17 points on 4-for-8 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

The Brewers led 31-29 at halftime and still held a 40-33 edge with 17:02 remaining. But the Mountaineers dug in defensively and held the Brewers scoreless for the next 3:47, while drawing within a single hoop of Vassar, at 40-38, following a three-pointer by junior guard Emory Wheeler with 13:59 to play.

But Brewer senior forward Joe Davis then converted a driving layup to spur an 11-1 run by the home team. Southern Vermont head coach Mike McDonough tried to halt the bleeding - and his team's own 5:05 scoring drought - by calling a timeout.

From there the Mountaineers gradually cut into Vassar's lead. The scoring punch of Kennedy-Ebron and the rebounding of Karnik helped close the gap to 56-50 with 5:37 to play, and SVC played arguably its best basketball of the contest over the next five minutes.

Baskets by freshman Ben Naaktgeboren (eight points), Wheeler and Spratling and a powerful dunk by Karnik down the stretch narrowed the Vassar lead to 64-62 with 42 seconds remaining. With ball possession and the chance to tie the game at 64, Vassar's Brian Butterworth drew an offensive charge on Spratling. Brewers freshman guard Nicholas Justiz was then fouled and connected on one of two free throws - bookended around a Southern Vermont timeout - for the 65-62 victory.

SVC scored 11 of the game's first 14 points to take an early eight-point lead, but Vassar promptly erased that deficit with an 8-0 run. The Mountaineers looked strong on the glass on both ends of the floor, as Karnik and Kennedy-Ebron ripped down 11 offensive rebounds between them to help build a 32-10 edge on o-boards and a 59-35 advantage in total rebounds; the duo also combined for five blocked shots and three steals.

The Brewers had balanced scoring, placing four players in double figures. Joe Davis - who tallied 20 points against Southern Vermont last season - finished with a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) for the hosts this time around.

The Mountaineers will return to action in the Williams College Invitational on November 21. The team has high expectations for that outing after its strong showing in the opener.

"We're a better team than we were last year," Wheeler said. "Things are looking up."