Oztemel Unstoppable as Bombers Power to 81-59 Victory at Nazareth
Rochester, N.Y. – Junior Andrei Oztemel shot 10-for-10 from the floor to power the Ithaca men’s basketball team (9-12, 6-4 Empire 8) to an 81-59 victory over host Nazareth (14-7, 7-3 Empire 8) on Friday night.
Oztemel had a game-high tying 27 points. His 10-for-10 performance ties as one of three 100-percent showings in Ithaca history.
Tod Hart owns the other two perfect-games as he went 16-for-16 from the floor against Rensselaer on Feb. 22, 1982 and 10-for-10 against Clarkson on Feb. 1, 1980.
Oztemel was 7-for-7 from three-point range, another 100-percent performance to knot the school record.
The tandem of
Oztemel and sophomore
Tom Sweeney accelerated Ithaca to a 42-26 Bomber advantage at the half as juniors
Sinjin Wightman and
Jordan Healey were the only other scorers with one bucket each. Ithaca maintained its double-digit spread and added to it for a 20-point game halfway through the latter half. The Bombers led by as many as 25 in the second, while Nazareth was not able to cut its deficit to less than 12.
Sweeney more than doubled his former career-high performance of 10 points with a game-high tying 27.
Junior Sean Rossi neared an unconventional double-double with a career-high nine rebounds in addition to his game-high 17 assists. Senior Jordan Marcus, who ranks fifth all-time at Ithaca with 1,446 points, chipped in 11 on the night.
The Bombers snapped a two-game losing skid with the win. Nazareth had won seven of its last eight contests since losing to Ithaca, 70-63, on Jan. 7.
Ithaca jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first, while holding Nazareth without a field goal for the opening 4:28. The Bombers increased the gap to 18-7 as they forced a six-minute scoring drought upon the Golden Flyers. Ithaca used a 19-8 run to take a 37-20 lead at the three-minute mark and went on to lead 42-26 at the half.
Marcus opened the second with six straight points to give Ithaca a 48-31 lead at 18:09. The Golden Flyers cut within 12 at 13:16 with a 6-0 run, but the Bombers answered scoring 12 of the next 16 points. Ithaca held strong down the stretch to claim its largest victory since a 96-74 win at Stevens Institute of Technology on Feb. 19, 2011.
Ithaca shot 64.7 percent from beyond the arc and 56.1 percent overall, while Nazareth managed 23.1 percent and 30.4 percent, respectively.
The Bombers will travel to St. John Fisher for a 4 p.m. game on Saturday.