Ithaca Wins Third ECAC Men's Basketball Title
Brockport, N.Y.--The men's basketball team posted a 78-71 win over Brockport (17-12) to capture the program's third ECAC Championship. The score remained within five points for nearly the entire second half, with each team holding the lead for significant portions of the final period. Ithaca (20-8) finally pulled away with under two minutes to play. Junior Phil Barera (Belmont/Belmont, Mass.) led the Ithaca effort with 23 points and 11 rebounds, his 15th double-double of the season. Freshman Andrei Oztemel (Staples/Westport, Conn.) was named the tournament's Most Valauble Player.
The Bombers saw a six point lead with seven minutes to play in the game turn into a four-point deficit on a 13-3 Brockport run that put the Golden Eagles up 64-60 with less than five minutes left on the clock. A pair of Barera free throws and a jumper from sophomore
Jordan Marcus (Solomon Schechter/West Orange, N.J.)
tied the score with four minutes remaining.
The teams traded the lead before a three-point field goal from Ithaca freshman Andrei Oztemel (Staples/Westport, Conn.) gave Ithaca a 71-69 lead with 1:51 left. Three straight points—all from Barera—extended the Bomber lead to four. Barera and Marcus each made a pair of free throws in the game’s final thirty seconds to maintain the Ithaca advantage and secure the championship.
Ithaca built a big lead in the first half, using an 18-10 run to go up 12 points with at 36-24. Eight straight Brockport points cut the lead back to four entering halftime. The Golden Eagles’ momentum continued into the second half, with Brockport grabbing the lead 44-42. A three-pointer capped a 9-0 Brockport run that put the home team up by a game-high five points.
Three pointers from Marcus and junior Chris Cruz-Rivas (West Genesee/Syracuse) helped the Bomber reclaim the second-half lead.
Four Bombers joined Barera in scoring in double figures. Oztemel notched 14 points off the bench, while Marcus, Cruz-Rivas and freshman Sean Rossi (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.) each scored 11.
Oztemel averaged 18.0 points and made 10 three-pointers in the two games of the tournament.
Rossi also picked up three assists in the game, giving him 221 on the season, extending his own Ithaca record. Rossi, the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, averaged 7.9 assist per game in his freshman year. He currently leads the nation in both assists and assists per game.
Barera finishes his season with a 65.3 field-goal percentage, the second-best mark in program history. He ranks seventh in the nation in the category as of the latest NCAA statistical report.
Ithaca’s other two ECAC titles also came with wins over Brockport. The Bombers defeated the Golden Eagles in the semifinal round of both the 2000 and 2006 playoffs.