Bombers, Ducks, Hawks and Highlanders Claim Wins
ITHACA 78, Farmingdale 62
The Ithaca College men's basketball team picked up its first win of the season on Saturday, defeating the Farmingdale Rams by a score of 78-62 at Corey Gymnasium on the campus of SUNY Cortland. The win puts Ithaca's record at 1-3 on the year, and wraps up the Bombers' run in the Cortaca Classic.
The Bombers hit 51.8 percent from the floor, converting on 29-of-56 shots. Ithaca was 10-of-25 from beyond the arc, converting on 40 percent from three-point range. The Bombers were also perfect from the charity stripe, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
Senior
Max Masucci led all scorers with a career-high 23 points, thanks in large part to 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Masucci also chipped in with three rebounds and a steal in 32 minutes off the bench. Gitto ranked second on the roster with 17 points, and first with five assists in the victory. Sophomore
Carlin Champion set a career high with 14 points in 25 minutes of work, while junior
Brad Johanson matched a career high with 11 points off the bench.
The contest opened with even play, resulting in a 7-7 tie at 15:36 of the first half. From that point forward, Ithaca dominated the opening frame. The Bombers scored seven-straight points, and went on a 14-6 run to give Ithaca the 24-13 lead with 9:51 to go in the first. The Rams answered quickly, scoring four points over the next minute to cut Ithaca's lead to seven points.
After the Ram's brief run the Bombers scored 11-straight points, giving Ithaca its largest lead of the half at 35-17. The Bombers' momentum carried into the final moments of the frame, giving Ithaca the 40-25 advantage at the break.
Ithaca continued to dominate in the second frame, as the Bombers outscored the Rams by a 20-13 margin in the first eight minutes of play. Ithaca's strong start gave the Bombers their largest lead of the game, putting the score at 60-38 with 12 minutes to play. Farmingdale barely chipped away at the lead in the final moments, giving Ithaca the 16-point victory, 78-62.
HOUGHTON 78, Anderson 77
Down by 13 points at the half, Houghton men's basketball used a 16-2 run to start the second half and got key free throws down the stretch for a 78-77 win over Anderson University in the consolation game of the Otterbein Tournament on Saturday.
The first half was a rough 20 minutes on both ends of the floor for the Highlanders. Houghton shot just 33 percent from the field, while the Ravens converted on 59 percent of their attempts. Adding to the problems was a multitude of whistles that left seven Houghton players with two personal fouls and limited the minutes of several key players. The Highlanders committed 19 fouls in the half and trailed 50-37 going into the locker room.
But the halftime speech by Head Coach Drew Hannan must have hit a chord as the Highlanders came out of the locker room a different team.
Brennen Campbell hit two layups and
Tyler McQuaid and
Antonio Deadmon hit back to back threes during a 10-0 run that brought Houghton to within three. The Ravens hit a bucket to go back up five, but Houghton scored six-straight to take their first lead of the contest with 14:28 remaining.
The teams would exchange buckets -- and the lead -- over the next five minutes before the Highlanders used a 9-2 run to go up 68-60 at the 7:10 mark. However, the Ravens weren't ready to pack it in and clawed back to take a three-point lead (77-74) with 57 seconds remaining. The Ravens converted all three free throws after being fouled attempting a shot from long range to tie it at 74 and hit a three-pointer to edge ahead. But that's the last time Anderson would score.
Deadmon was fouled with 44 seconds on the clock and converted both free throws to pull Houghton to within one. The Ravens ran the shot clock down on their next possession but missed a layup.
Jordan Scott snared the rebound and quickly got the ball to Campbell who was fouled with six seconds left. The senior went to the line and calmly sank both shots to give the Highlanders the lead. The Ravens missed a layup with one tick left and
Luke Khachadourian grabbed the rebound as time expired.
Campbell finished with a team-high 16 points while adding four assists and four steals to earn all-tournament honors. He was 10-12 from the charity stripe. McQuaid, Deadmon and
Johnathan Stowe each scored 13 points. Stowe pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.
Houghton improved their shooting to 43 percent in the second half (38 percent for the game), while holding the Ravens to just 28 percent after the break. Houghton also forced 22 turnovers while committing just 15. Rebounds were in Houghton's favor, 48-46.
STEVENS 82, Baptist Bible 56
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never let go, cruising to an 82-56 win over Baptist Bible in the 23rd Annua McCarthy Tire Laurel Line Tournament hosted by Misericordia Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Ducks improve to 2-2 on the year. Baptist Bible falls to 0-5 in defeat.
The Ducks dominated from the opening tip, surging out to a 25-0 lead. Sophomore guard
Patrick Barron staked the Ducks to a 2-0 edge and sophomore forward
Otis Osman followed suit. Senior forward
Kenny Gan turned a Barron steal into two more as the Ducks went on top 6-0. A Barron steal and layup put the Ducks into double figures, and a triple from junior guard
Kevin Zychowski made it 17-0 Stevens before five minutes had elapsed. Sophomore forward
Michael Signer got in on the action, netting two to make it 21-0, with an eventual three-pointer from Zychowski accounting for points 23, 24 and 25 in the amazing start for the Ducks.
Baptist Bible found its way onto the scoreboard with 12:50 remaining, but it was far too little too late as the Ducks continued to cruise, eventually winning by 26 points.
On several occasions, Stevens allowed Baptist Bible to get within 17 points, but the Ducks never allowed things to get uneasy and were able to go ahead by as many as 29 in the first, eventually settling on a 44-20 halftime margin.
A jumper from junior forward
Alex Lorenz gave the Ducks their largest lead to that point (30) with 15:21 remaining in the second half and Stevens cruised the rest of the way for the win. The Ducks' largest lead of the game ended up being 32.
Stevens shot 48.6 percent from the field (34-for-70) and 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) from deep. The Ducks were plus-16 on the glass (48-32) and notched 40 points in the paint. The Stevens bench was marvelous, scoring 55 points and getting a team-high 14 points from Lorenz who also grabbed a team-high nine caroms.
Senior forward
Patrick Sabatino added 11 points, four rebounds and two steals, while junior guard
Brendan Gallagher poured in 10 points on seven shots (three three-pointers). Gan had six points and five boards, as did Osman. Sophomore guard
Thomas Ahern dished out a team-best four helpers and tied for team lead in steals with two. Head Coach
Bobby Hurley was able to use 19 players in the win.
The Ducks' D held Baptist Bible to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent from deep, also forcing 19 turnovers.
HARTWICK 67, Cobleskill 60
Hartwick men's basketball had a tough time getting rid of a pesky SUNY Cobleskill team but the Hawks came away with a 67-60 victory to claim the Holiday Inn Classic Championship Saturday at Lambros Arena.
The Hawks trailed 48-47 with under 10 minutes to play but the defense stepped up to shutout the Tigers for nearly five minutes and a 9-0 run in the span gave the Hawks the lead to stay.
Transfer
Trevor Norton led three Hawks in double figures with a team-high of 19 points. He was 6-of-10 from the floor with a pair of three's and was perfect from the free-throw line (5-of-5) on the day. He also had six rebounds.
Jake Sinicki scored a career-high 11 points for the Hawks to go along with six boards, and game-highs of five steals and three assists. Sophomore
Joey Lufkin added 14 points for 'Wick.
The Fighting Tigers led the Hawks for a large portion of the first half, which went back and forth with three lead changes and seven tie scores. A basket from Alexis Nunez at 7:22 gave Cobleskill the lead 20-19, which they nearly held for the remainder of the first half. The Hawks trailed 27-23 with under two minutes left but five points from Lufkin and another four from Norton, including a layup at the buzzer handed the Hawks a 32-29 lead heading into the locker room.
Norton (9) and Lufkin (7) combined for 16 of the Hawks' 32 points in the half. Hartwick would struggle from the outside to aid in the deficit as it connected on only 3-of-19 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
Hartwick maintained a slim advantage through the first five minutes of the second half until Nunez hit a three-pointer to give the edge to Cobleskill, 42-40, which it kept for four minutes. Four lead changes occurred near the midway point of the half before two Sinicki free throws put the Hawks up for keeps, 49-48, with 9:25 remaining.
From there, the Hawks would force five Cobleskill missed shots and four turnovers as they built an eight-point lead, 56-48, with less than six minutes to go. The lead swelled to nine on two
Justin Pratt free throws with 1:12 left. The Tigers managed to cut it to five with only 19 seconds left but the Hawks closed it out from the line down the stretch, going 8-for-8.
Pratt would end the day with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds for Hartwick.
The Hawks would shoot 37% (20-for-54) on the night and they won the rebounding battle, 37-33. The Tigers made 43.4% (23-for-53) of their shots as a group.
Rochester 76, UTICA 53