Ithaca Grabs 88-80 OT Win Over #24 Scranton
ITHACA 88, Scranton 80 OT
The Ithaca College men's basketball team defeated No. 24 Scranton Tuesday night, dropping the Royals by a score of 88-80 in overtime at Ben Light Gymnasium. The win improves Ithaca's overall record to 4-8, while Scranton falls to 12-3.
The Bombers shot 45.5 percent on the night, going 30-for-66 from the floor. Ithaca hit 8-of-25 shots from beyond the arc, and was 20-of-26 from the charity stripe.
Five Bombers recorded double-digit points in the victory, led by senior
Keefe Gitto's 25. Gitto's output tied a career best, and paired with 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Freshman
Marc Chasin scored 17 points to go along with three assists, while classmate
Carroll Rich chipped in with a career-best 15-point effort.
Junior
Sam Bevan recorded his first double-double of the season, netting 14 points and recording 13 assists. Senior
Max Masucci scored 12 points and paced the Bombers with three steals.
Back-and-forth play was the story of the opening moments, as neither team was able to go ahead by more than two points until five minutes into the first half. A 9-0 run by the Royals over a two-minute stretch marked the contest's first momentum swing, giving Scranton a 15-6 lead.
The Royals continued to add to their lead, going up by a score of 37-19 with 2:31 remaining in the opening frame. The Bombers closed the gap in the final minutes, outscoring Scranton by a 9-1 margin to end the half. A clutch three-point shot from Masucci put the exclamation point on the Bomber run, sending the game to the break with the score at 38-28 in favor of the Royals.
Ithaca continued to roll at the beginning of the second half, as the Bombers outscored Scranton by a 9-4 margin in the first three minutes. Ithaca's run closed the deficit to five points, giving Scranton the 42-37 lead with 17 minutes to go. The Royals responded with a run of their own, scoring eight-straight points to go up, 50-37.
The Bombers chipped away at the Scranton lead throughout the second half, pulling to within single digits of the Royals on several occasions.
With 1:50 remaining in the second half and Scranton leading by six (71-65), Ithaca scored four-straight points, capped off by three-straight free throws from Rich. The Royals hit two free throws of their own to take a 73-69 lead, before Rich knocked down a three-pointer with 26 seconds remaining to pull Ithaca to within one. Two more Scranton free throws on the next possession extended the Royals' lead again, pushing the score to 75-72 with 18 seconds to play. After an Ithaca inbound, Bevan found Chasin beyond the arc with seven seconds left. Chasin nailed the three pointer, tying the contest and sending the game to overtime.
The Bombers dominated in the extra frame, going 4-for-4 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. Ithaca recorded seven-straight points in the bonus session, running away with the contest to an eventual 88-80 victory.
The Bombers return to action on Friday, Jan. 16, as Ithaca heads to Stevens Institute of Technology for an E8 showdown. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Boxscore (HTML)