Ithaca, Hartwick, Stevens and Fisher Pick Up E8 Wins
ITHACA 97, Utica 90 (Box Score)
The Ithaca College men's basketball team earned its first Empire 8 victory of the season Saturday evening. The Bombers defeated Utica by a score of 97-90 at the Harold T. Clark Athletic Center, pushing their overall record to 3-7 with a mark of 1-1 in the conference. Utica falls to 4-7 overall, including a record of 0-2 in the Empire 8.
Ithaca was 37-of-59 from the floor, shooting 63 percent on the night. The Bombers shot 53.6 percent from beyond the arc, converting 15-of-28 shots from three-point range. Ithaca's 97 points set a season high, and marked the team's highest point output since a 97-82 win over Houghton on Feb. 4, 2014.
Junior
Sam Bevan led Ithaca with 20 points and five assists in his seventh start of the season. Bevan hit all seven shots he attempted, including two from beyond the arc. Sophomore
Carlin Champion ranked second on the roster with 16 points, marking a personal best. Senior
Max Masucci recorded 14 points on the night, and ranked first on the team with 33 minutes played. Senior
Keefe Gitto, sophomore
Joe Masino and freshman
Marc Chasin all reached double figures, with each recording 10 points in the victory.
The Bombers and Pioneers played even basketball in the opening half, as the lead changed on seven occasions in the first eight minutes of play. The contest's fourth and final tie occurred at 11:20 of the first half, before Ithaca took a slight lead at 26-24. Both teams continued to score, but Ithaca was able to edge out the Pioneers thanks to a 5-0 run to end the half. A three-pointer from Chasin with two seconds remaining capped the run, giving Ithaca a 53-45 edge at the break.
The Bombers' momentum carried into the second, as Ithaca was able to take a double-digit lead (63-51) over Utica thanks to back-to-back three balls from Masucci and Bevan. The Bombers' lead grew to 18 in the second half, as another three-pointer from Masucci at 9:44 pushed the score to 79-61.
Utica chipped away at the lead in the closing minutes, but the Bombers held on to earn the 97-90 road victory.
STEVENS 76, Houghton 60 (Box Score)
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team improved to 1-1 in the Empire 8 and 4-6 overall with a 76-60 win over Houghton College Saturday in the Canavan Arena.
Junior forward
Alex Lorenz, sophomore guard
Patrick Barron and senior forward
Patrick Sabatino all scored in double figures, and senior forward
Kenny Gan had eight points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Sabatino added six rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals to his 11 points in an excellent all-around performance, while Lorenz scored a team-best 15 points. Lorenz also had six boards, two blocks and two steals. Barron finished with two three-pointers en route to 12 points, with sophomore guard
Michael Langford handing out four assists and notching two thefts. Sophomore forward
Otis Osman tallied nine points and two steals.
Stevens shot 49.1 percent (28-for-57) from the field and converted five (of 13) triples. The Ducks were 15-for-24 (62.5 percent) at the line and had 13 assists as a team. They also had a season-high 11 blocks as well as 14 steals. A total of 12 players scored points as the Ducks held a 43-42 margin on the glass, scored 44 points in the paint and 14 tallies via the fastbreak.
Houghton (4-6 overall, 1-1 Empire 8) jumped out to an early 7-2 lead but a 9-0 run from the Ducks handed the hosts the advantage (11-7) with 13:35 in the first. A pair at the line from freshman guard
Chris Cosgrove with 6:21 in the first gave the Ducks their first double-digit lead of the afternoon at 26-15, and the two teams went into the locker room with the scoreboard showing 33-26 in favor of Stevens.
Stevens came out with excellent energy and tenacity in the second half, holding Houghton to just four points over the first 8:49 of the period to open a 30-point lead with 11:11 to play. The Ducks scored 27 tallies over that span to make it a 60-30 contest and essentially had the win in hand for the final 10 minutes of game time.
Sabatino opened the second-half scoring with a thunderous dunk after an Osman steal that seemed to ignite the Ducks as they never looked back in the win.
Stevens held Houghton to 30.3 percent shooting from the field (20-for-66) and 8-for-28 from deep (28.6 percent). The Highlanders were 12-for-23 at the line.
HARTWICK 75, Alfred 74 (Box Score)
Hartwick fought off a late flurry from visiting Alfred (7-3, 1-1 E8) on Saturday night for a 75-74 Empire 8 Conference victory at Lambros Arena. The Hawks improve to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in the league with the win.
The Hawks led comfortably by 10 points with 1:05 remaining but a trio of three-pointers trimmed the margin to just two with 12 ticks remaining.
Trevor Norton put the game away with a pair from the free-throw line before a three-pointer at the buzzer brought the final margin to one point.
Joey Lufkin tied for a game-high with 23 points on the night to go along with five rebounds. Freshman
Jake Sinicki notched a double-double with 13 points and a game- and career-high 16 rebounds.
Matt Petruccione added 14 points and six rebounds while
Joe Krong contributed 11 points and four boards.
The game featured 13 lead changes and the score was tied on nine different occasions in a back and forth contest. Neither team was able to build more than a six-point lead in the first half of play. Lufkin scored 13 of the Hawks' points in the half with Julian Reinhart's 11 points pacing the Saxons. Lufkin's three at the horn put Hartwick in front at halftime, 34-33.
A big early second-half run for the Hawks put some distance between them and the Saxons. After an early Alfred basket, the Hawks rattled off 13 straight points in a two and a half minute span to take a 47-35 advantage.
The Saxons began chipping away at the deficit and regained the advantage with under 10 minutes to go. After Hartwick squared things, a Dalton Walsh free throw put Alfred up 52-51 with 8:32 left but it would be the Saxons' final lead of the night. A pair of Lufkin free throws would hand the Hawks the lead for good at 7:54. It started a 10-0 spurt which gave Hartwick a 62-52 lead. The Hawks held at least a four-point edge until the final Saxon basket at the buzzer.
The Hawks made 41.8% (23-for-55) of their shots in the game as a group. The Saxons made 31.6% (24-for-76) of their attempts from the floor. 'Wick out-rebounded AU, 50-48.
ST. JOHN FISHER 78, Elmira 68 (Box Score)
The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team took down host Elmira College 78-68 on Saturday in a conference game. The Cardinals improve to 2-0 in Empire 8 and 9-2 overall, while the Soaring Eagles fall to 1-1 and 3-6, respectively.
With the win, Cardinals are off to their best start since the 2009-10 season when they also went 9-2 in first 11 games.
Keegan Ryan put Fisher on the board with a layup. Fisher pulled away with traditional three-point plays from
Chaz Lottand
Zach Ottaway to make it an 18-9 lead with 11:05 left in the first half.
The Cardinals maintained the lead for the majority of the first half, but not without a fight from the Soaring Eagles. Elmira was hot from 3-point land and that was enough to keep up with Fisher. Despite those 3-pointers, the Cardinals kept a seven-point lead with 4:17 left in the half. At halftime, Elmira closed in on Fisher and made it a 35-31 game.
Elmira's Justin Henderson hit a 3-pointer to put the Soaring Eagles within one point, 37-36. Elmira kept netting those threes, making 10 total in the game, but couldn't close in on Fisher.
Lott shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field with 4-for-5 from the line to lead the Cardinals with 16 points. The point guard also dished out seven assists.
Two other Cardinals – Ryan and Ottaway – recorded double-digit figures. Ryan finished with 15 points and Ottaway with a season-high 10 points.
Charles McVay shot a perfect 2-for-2 from 3-point land to add eight points.
NAZARETH 85, John Carroll 80 (Box Score)
Junior forward
Maurice Mills combined game highs in points (28) and rebounds (13) Saturday and junior guard
Nick Nadeau added a career-high 24 points as Nazareth overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat John Carroll, 85-80, in a non-conference men's basketball game played at the Hilbert College Tournament.
The victory enabled the Golden Flyers to snap a three-game losing streak and to improve to 3-5 overall. John Carroll dropped to 7-3. Nazareth will play again Sunday at 3 p.m. in the championship game against the winner of Saturday's second game between Hilbert and Potsdam.
The Golden Flyers trailed most of the game and didn't take the lead for good, 79-77, until Mills scored his final field goal of the game with 1:38 left. Sophomore
Denzell Jackson added a pair of free throws with 1:22 to go and sophomore
Dan Morse made another foul shot with :37 left to extend Nazareth's lead to 82-77.
After JCU's David Linane completed a three-point play with :32 left to trim Nazareth's lead to 82-80, Morse made another free throw with :18 left. Then after John Carroll misfired on a three-point shot in the closing seconds, Nazareth's
Colin McGlynn sank a pair of free throws with 1.7 seconds left to seal the victory.
The Blue Streaks, of University Heights, Ohio, raced to an early lead against the Golden Flyers and threatened to turn the game into a rout by taking a 24-10 advantage just 10 minutes into the game. Nadeau completed a three-point play for Nazareth with 5:26 left in the half to trim JCU's lead to 32-26 before the Blue Streaks pulled away again before settling for a 43-33 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Nazareth chipped away but still trailed by 11 points, 62-51, with less than 12 minutes to play. A 13-3 run, capped by Morse's short jumper in the lane, drew Nazareth within one point, 65-64, with 7:18 left. John Carroll countered with a 9-4 scoring run to go back on top by six, 74-68, with 4:30 left.
Nazareth stayed close as Nadeau hit a three-pointer and added a free throw and
Jack Mulcahy also connected from long range. After a John Carroll missed shot, Nazareth finally tied the score on a layup by Nadeau with 2:13 left. After a JCU turnover, Mills scored the go-ahead basket before fouling out 40 seconds later.
Mills made 11 of 21 shots from the field and went 6-for-7 from the foul line. He also had three blocked shots. Nadeau made 7 of 15 shots, including two three-pointers, and went 8 for 11 from the line. McGlynn played 24 minutes off the bench and finished with a career-high 10 points. Jackson finished with eight.
Nazareth made 29 of 62 shots from the floor (46.8 percent) and 22 for 33 from the foul line (66.7 percent). John Carroll got 20 points and 12 rebounds from Jake Hollinger and 19 points from Doug Caputo. The Blue Streaks went 31 for 72 from the field (42.5 percent) and 5 for 22 from three-point range. Nazareth had a 44-41 edge in rebounds.
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Hartwick |
2-0 |
7-4 |
|
St. John Fisher |
2-0 |
9-2 |
|
Alfred |
1-1 |
7-3 |
|
Elmira |
1-1 |
3-6 |
|
Ithaca |
1-1 |
3-7 |
|
Stevens |
1-1 |
4-6 |
|
Houghton |
0-2 |
4-6 |
|
Nazareth |
0-0 |
3-5 |
|
Utica |
0-2 |
4-7 |