Bombers, Ducks, Hawks and Pioneers Outlast E8 Competition
Ithaca 48, St. John Fisher 46
The Ithaca College men’s basketball team (7-3, 3-0 Empire 8) won its fourth straight game defeating visiting St. John Fisher (8-5, 3-1 Empire 8) 48-46 on Saturday at Ben Light Gymnasium.
The Bombers, who trailed by four at the break, dug their way out of a nine-point deficit in the second. Ithaca used a 17-3 run, highlighted by four three-pointers, to secure the lead indefinitely.
Senior Travis Warech posted a Bomber-best 11 points. Senior Eli Maravich and freshman Sam Bevan added eight apiece, a career-high for Bevan. Junior Frank Mitchell pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Warech added seven and junior Tom Sweeney six as the Bombers outrebounded Fisher, 40-38.
The teams combined to score just 21 points over the first 10 minutes of action and went on to tally 40 in the first frame. Ithaca held a 12-6 gap on a Maravich jumper, but 14 unanswered Cardinal points gave the visitors a 20-12 gap at 3:40. The Bombers recorded six of the final eight points to cut within four as Fisher led 22-18 at the half.
Ithaca outscored the Cardinals 30-24 in the second stint.
The Bombers pulled within two on an Andrei Oztemel three and a Warech layup at the 18-minute mark, but the Cardinals took a 35-26 advantage with a 9-2 streak. Maravich drained back-to-back threes to spark the Bomber offense. Ithaca posted a 43-38 lead at 7:27 and held Fisher to just one field goal and six total points over an 11-minute span.
The Cardinals twice got within three before making it a one-point game with 18 ticks lingering in the game. Bevan was fouled on the inbound play and sent to the free throw line. He hit the front end of his free throws to finalize all scoring, 48-46.
Stevens 76, Nazareth 70
Senior guard
Russ Thompson (West Orange, N.J.) scored a career-high 32 points including 25 in the second half to propel the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 76-70 Empire 8 win at Nazareth College Saturday afternoon in Rochester, N.Y.
Stevens trailed by as many as 13 in the second half and by 10 points with 5:47 to play but rallied back to snap a three-game skid against the Golden Flyers with all three losses coming in 2011-12.
Down 64-54, sophomore forward
Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) found Thompson for a three-pointer, and after a stop, Thompson fed senior guard
Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.Y.) underneath for a bucket. Another Thompson triple trimmed the lead to two (64-62), but Naz answered with three in a row to push the margin back to five (67-62) with 3:04 left.
The two teams traded buckets before a Thompson triple – his sixth of the day – with 1:43 remaining cut the lead back to two at the 1:43 mark. Gan rebounded a missed triple from the Golden Flyers and then assisted a Thompson layup with a converted free throw to give the Ducks a 70-69 lead with 1:06 on the clock.
Sophomore forward
Patrick Sabatino (Westfield, N.J.) corralled a missed jumper from junior forward
Brad Ford (Victor, N.Y.) on the next Nazareth possession and Thompson converted a pair at the stripe to put Stevens up three with 28 seconds to go. The Ducks forced a Golden Flyer miss on their next chance, Sabatino pulled down his seventh rebound and then went to the line to sink both free throws and seal the game with 22 seconds left.
Hartwick 81, Houghton 73
Four Hawk players scored in double figures as the men's basketball team snapped a two-game winless streak with an 81-73 victory over Houghton on Saturday afternoon at the Nielsen Center. Hartwick improves its record to 7-5 while the Highlanders fall to 0-11.
Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) led Hartwick with 21 points and converted all 11 of his free throws. He also grabbed six rebounds.
Kyle Bradley (Cornwall, NY/Mansfield University) scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and had nine rebounds.
'Wick got some big contributions from its bench led by
Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) who scored a season-high 15 points. He added seven rebounds and blocked three shots.
Matt Petruccione (Saratoga Springs, NY/Bishop Maginn) scored a career-high 13 points and picked up six boards. Both players played a major role as the Hawks' bench outscored the Highlanders 31-11.
The Highlanders were led by Chris Confair who scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Andres Makori contributed 16 points and dished out five assists. Seth Shay chipped in 15 points, five assists, and two steals.
The first half featured seven lead changes and six ties. After Bradley's layup tied the game at nine at 14:34, the Highlanders embarked on a 10-3 run that saw them move ahead 19-12 with 9:54 showing on the clock. A 13-4 Hartwick run, however, gave the lead back to the Hawks, 25-23, at 5:31. A layup from Houghton's Matthew Ball would tie the game at 25-25 at 4:14 but a 11-3 Hartwick run to close out the first half gave 'Wick a 36-28 lead at halftime.
Keane's layup 40 seconds into the second half increased the Hartwick lead to 10 points. Houghton would come roaring back with an 18-5 run covering seven minutes of game time to take the lead, 46-43, at 11:42.
Following two more ties and the teams exchanging baskets back and forth, Keane's layup at 7:22 put the Hawks ahead 58-57. A 14-5 'Wick run gave Hartwick some breathing room with a 71-62 lead with 2:18 left to play.
A three-point shot from Shay cut the deficit to just four points with 29 seconds left and the Highlanders were looking to make a comeback. The Hawks held on in the end as the team converted seven of eight free throws in the final 28 seconds to come out with the victory.
Utica 86, Alfred 74
The Utica College men's basketball team snapped a five game losing streak on Saturday when it defeated visiting Alfred University, 86-74, in Empire 8 Conference play at the Clark Athletic Center. The Pioneers shot 50.8% (31-for-61) from the floor and they hit 13 3-pointers to improve their record to 4-8 overall and more importantly, 2-2 in conference play. Utica's
Connor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) netted 7-of-12 3-point attempts on his way to a game-high 26 point effort. Four different Pioneers scored in double-figures and junior
Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) scored 18 points to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds (six offensive).
Sophomore point guard
Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) tallied a season-high 11 assists, while senior shooter
Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) scored 18 points. Alfred's Thomas Tsatsis netted a team-best 15 points and Brett Dennis added 13 points for the visiting Saxons (2-9, 0-3 Empire 8). Tsatsis also added five rebounds, while Jason Ruback came away with three steals.
The Pioneers truly wasted no time as they jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the first 6:29 of action behind six points from Maisch. The onslaught seemed to continue throughout the first half as the Pioneers extended their lead to as many as 19 points on three different occasions before the end of the first half.
A 13-3 run in a 4:14 stretch in the beginning of the second half helped Utica increase it's lead to 66-43 with 14:23 left in regulation. Alfred responded with a 29-17 run in the next 13:33 of play, cutting the Pioneers lead to 11 points, but only 50 second remained in the contest and it proved to be too late.
UC led the entire game and managed their second 23 point lead (largest lead of the game), 83-60, with just over six minutes left in the contest.
Senior forward
Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School) scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds for UC. The Pioneers' starting five combined for 82 points on the afternoon.