Bombers Dominate Second Half to Claim 72-59 Victory at St. John Fisher
Rochester, N.Y. – The Ithaca men's basketball team (10-12, 7-4 Empire 8) outscored the Cardinals 43-25 in the second half to defeat host St. John Fisher (10-12, 3-8 Empire 8) 72-59 on Saturday afternoon.
Four ties opened the game before the Cardinals jumped out to an 11-point lead at 3:35. Ithaca closed out the half on a 10-4 run to bring the game to 34-29 at intermission. The Bombers posted 19 unanswered early in the second to claim the lead indefinitely.
Junior Sean Rossi recorded game-highs of 23 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Frank Mitchell added 19 and seven, respectively, to lead the Bombers. Freshman Max Masucci posted 10 points and senior Jordan Marcus and sophomore Tom Sweeney each had eight.
The Cardinals held an early first-half advantage forcing the Bombers to battle back and knot action on four occasions. Ithaca cut St. John Fisher’s 30-19 lead to four at 1:32 with a
Rossi and-one play, but the Cardinals held a 34-29 gap at the half.
The squads exchanged buckets to open the second before Ithaca’s 19 unanswered powered the Bombers to victory. St. John Fisher cut within nine, but Ithaca scored 10 of the next 12 points to claim its largest lead of the game, 60-43, at 7:31. Ithaca cruised to victory aided by a 71.4 percent shooting performance in the second half.
The Bombers shot 56.3 percent from the floor while the Cardinals managed just 37.3 percent. Ithaca also held a slight 33-29 edge on the boards.