Marcus' Nine Three-Pointers Help Ithaca Down St. Lawrence, 79-60
Canton, N.Y. – Junior guard Jordan Marcus (Solomon Schechter/West Orange, N.J.) connected on nine three-pointers and shot 10-for-16 from the floor to lead the Ithaca men’s basketball team (4-2) past host St. Lawrence (1-4), 79-60, on Friday night.
The Bombers hit 16 shots from beyond the arc, the second highest total in program history, behind the 18 that Ithaca drained over Alfred on Jan. 15. Marcus’ nine threes also rank second in Ithaca’s all-time records behind the 10 scored by Vince Perrine on Jan. 18, 1984 against Hamilton.
Marcus recorded a season-high 29 points to lead the game, while senior guard Chris Crus-Rivas (West Genesee/Syracuse) and sophomore forward Andrei Oztemel (Staples/Westport, Conn.) tallied double figures with 16 and 14, respectively, and the Bombers handed the Saints their fourth consecutive loss.
The first quarter of action was neck-and-neck featuring three lead changes and four stalemates before the Bombers claimed the advantage for good on a Phil Barera (Belmont/Belmont, Mass.) layup at 10:43.
Back-to-back layups and a pair of three-pointers followed, aiding in 10 unanswered for the visiting team. But the Saints brought the game within three on a 9-2 run before the Bombers took a commanding 12-point lead in to the locker room at intermission.
Barera again made good in the paint before Oztemel sunk two from the charity stripe to extend the gap to 28-21. A layup and a trey from Marcus closed out the half to secure the Bombers’ largest lead of the half, 33-21.
Five minutes in to the second frame St. Lawrence brought the score within six, but a pair of Oztemel threes, separated only by a Miles Grier (Druid Hills/Lilburn, Ga.) layup, helped the Bombers back to a double-digit cushion.
SLU answered in a similar fashion as two three-pointers cut its deficit to nine, but Ithaca scored 15 of the next 22 points to put the game out of reach for the Saints.
The Bombers won by 19 points, their largest win margin of the season, as they closed out the game with a trio of three-pointers and five free throws.
Scoring 19 points off of St. Lawrence turnovers, Ithaca shot 51.9 percent from the floor and 45.7 percent from three-point range as 14 Bombers saw action in the game.