Utica and Ithaca Fall on Friday Night
Hobart 92, Utica 82 (
Box)
The Utica College men's basketball team led by as many as seven points, 75-68, with 6:09 left in the contest but Widener battled back to earn a 92-82 victory in the semifinals of the Hamilton College Tournament on Friday night. The Pioneers will now take on the loser of the other semifinal contest (Hamilton/D'Youville) tomorrow at 12 p.m.
UC's
Aaron Nevins led the Pioneers with 21 points, four assists and three steals, while senior forward
Chris Jeffers netted 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double. Freshman guard
Kendall Brown came off the bench and netted a career-best 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from 3-point land.
Five different players scored in double figures for Widener and the Pride was led by Rob McPherson's game-high 27 points. Greg Lawson added a game-high 16 rebounds for Widener.
36 of the Pioneers' points came from their bench play including a season-high 14 from sophomore guard Robert Tutien.
Pape Konteye added seven points and two rebounds for UC.
There were 15 lead changes in the contest and the score was tied at five different points in the game. UC scored 36 of its 82 points in the point.
Hobart 76, Ithaca 67 (
Box)
The Ithaca College men's basketball team (1-3) lost to Hobart (2-0) Friday night, falling to the Statesmen by a score of 76-67 at Bristol Gym.
Senior
Frank Mitchell (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) once again led the Bombers with 16 points, combining with 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Sophomore guard
Sam Bevan (Strafford, Pa./Conestoga) chipped in with a career-best 14 points and led the Bombers with five assists. Sophomore
Joey Ross (East Brunswick, N.J./East Brunswick) also recorded a career high, netting 13 points off the bench.
Ithaca hit 39 percent from the floor, making 21 shots on 54 attempts. The Bombers hit 42 percent from three point range, with Ross leading the way in a 3-for-4 night from beyond the arc.
After trailing briefly in the first two minutes of the contest, Hobart went on an 11-2 run in a span of 3:38 to jump out to a 15-8 lead on the Bombers. Ithaca was able to cut the Hobart lead to just five, but another long Statesmen run pushed them ahead by 17 with 5:31 remaining in the first frame. Ithaca was able to cut into the deficit, but still trailed by a score of 39-28 at the half.
Hobart jumped out to another substantial lead in the beginning of the second, going up by a score of 52-30 with 14:26 remaining in the game. The Bombers rallied from the early second-half deficit, and strung together an impressive 13-4 run to cut the Hobart lead to 13 points with just over eight minutes to play.
With 3:32 left in the second half, Ithaca put together one of its better offensive outbursts of the night. Mitchell put in a layup, before fellow senior
Tom Sweeney (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) sunk a free throw to bring Ithaca back to within 11 points. Ross then drained a three-pointer, cutting the deficit to just eight. Both teams traded baskets down the stretch, but Ithaca was never able to come back, giving Hobart the 76-67 victory.