Ithaca Men's Basketball Team Earns Preseason Nods from Sporting News Magazine
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Bomber men’s basketball team has been tabbed a possible breakthrough squad by Sporting News Magazine for the 2011-12 season. Ithaca, who finished the 2010-11 campaign with a 20-7 record, tallied its third consecutive 20-win season as it won the Empire 8 regular-season crown and earned a place in the NCAA tournament.
The Bombers graduated two starters in Phil Barera (Belmont/Belmont, Mass.) and Chris Cruz-Rivas (West Genesee/Syracuse), but return starters in juniors Sean Rossi (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.) and Andrei Oztemel (Staples/Westport, Conn.) and senior Jordan Marcus (Solomon Schechter/West Orange, N.J.).
Rossi and the men's basketball team earned year-end NCAA accolades after concluding the season each leading Division III in a statistical category. For the second straight year, Rossi led the nation in assists, while the team tallied the best assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Bombers will open the season on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Hobart.