Balanced Attack Helps Bombers Roll Past Alfred, 85-81
Alfred, N.Y. – The Ithaca men’s basketball team (17-5, 10-3 Empire 8) used a balanced attack to roll past host Alfred (8-15, 3-11 Empire 8), 85-81, on Saturday afternoon.
Senior center Phil Barera (Belmont/Belmont, Mass.) tallied his 24th career double-double and ninth of the season to lead the Bombers with a team-highs of 19 points and 12 boards. Team-highs of 19 points and eight assists came from sophomore guard Sean Rossi (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.) as Ithaca won its fourth game out of its last five contests.
Placing five in double digits, Ithaca senior Chris Cruz-Rivas (West Genesee/Syracuse) added 14 points and 11 boards for the game’s only other double-double. Freshman guard Miles Grier (Druid Hills/Lilburn, Ga.) and junior guard Jordan Marcus (Solomon Schechter/West Orange, N.J.) each recorded 11 points helping Ithaca remain the top-seed in the conference. The Bombers are knotted with Stevens at 10-3 in Empire 8 action.
The Saxons held a two-point 44-42 edge at the half, but Ithaca tallied six more points than the host squad in the second stint to claim the victory. The Bombers narrowly outshot Alfred 46.3 percent to 43.3 percent in a game that had its lead change on 10 occasions.
Ithaca opened the game in commanding fashion to lead 21-7 at the 13-minute mark, but Alfred chipped away at its deficit bringing the game within four at 4:27. Sophomore forward Andrei Oztemel Staples/Westport, Conn.) drained a three to up the lead to seven, but the Saxons would all but hold Ithaca without a field goal over the final minutes of the half to claim the lead. Alfred claimed the advantage outscoring the Bombers 17-6 as Ithaca went six-for-eight from the foul line, before a Grier buzzer-beater layup brought the score to 44-42 at the break.
The second stint opened in back-and-forth fashion before Ithaca claimed the lead for good at 13:32 on a Marcus layup. An 11-0 run pieced together by four Bombers extended Ithaca’s gap to 72-62 at 5:46, but an 8-2 Alfred run made things interesting down the stretch.
The Saxons used a pair of treys and one from in the paint to cut the Bombers’ lead to 83-81 with 13 seconds lingering on the clock, but Oztemel sealed the game with a pair from the charity stripe to close out all scoring at 85-81.