ITHACA, NY – A hot shooting host Ithaca College dropped the #13 ranked University of Rochester from the ranks of the unbeatens with an 85-70 victory on Tuesday evening at Ben Light Gymnasium.
The Bombers (4-3), combined to shoot 56% from the floor and seven different players combined to make 14 3-pointers which proved to much for visiting Rochester. UR heads into the holiday break with a 9-1 record.
Rochester was led offensively by senior Ryan Clamage who had 15 points and nine rebounds. Ryan Algier shot 6-7 from the floor and had 12 points off the bench while Andrew Lundstrom added 10 points. Jacob Wittig had eight points and eight assists.
For Ithaca, Riley Thompson and Peter Ezema each had 17 points, with Ezema grabbing a team high nine rebounds. Sebastian Alderete added 15 points, including three 3-pointers while Bryan Karl sank four triples and finished with 14 points off the Bomber bench.
Ithaca scored the game's opening seven points and did not surrender the lead in the wire-to-wire victory.
A 10-0 Bomber run, bookended by three's from Thompson and Alderete stretched the IC lead to 15 just seven minutes into the contest.
Every time Rochester looked to spark a run, Ithaca answered back with a big shot, usually a 3-pointer to surge back ahead.
UR was able to chip away at the big 16-point deficit though late in the opening half, using a 13-5 run to make the lead just six with a minute to go in the half. A Clamage 3-pointer started the run, with Lundstrom, Wittig and Michael Mangan also contributing in the stretch.
At halftime, Ithaca held an eight-point lead, up 44-36.
The lead was six after Lundstrom scored a basket to open the second period, but Ithaca answered right away with a Flood shot from distance.
After Ithaca's Ezema had a steal and layup to put the home team back up by 11, the Yellowjackets scored the next seven points, four on baskets by Lundstrom and Algier and a triple from Alexander Gamble to cut the lead to four, the smallest gap since the opening minute.
Alderete then sank another 3-pointer and Ithaca was off to the races, bursting out on a 18-5 run which built a 17-point cushion with 11 minutes on the clock. Ithaca was 7-11 and made three 3-pointers in the run while Rochester was just 2-6 and committed three turnovers.
The backbreaker was back-to-back three's from Karl with under nine minutes on the clock, building the Bomber lead to 24.
Rochester did score the next nine points to cut it back to a 15-point margin, thanks to an Algier layup and seven straight points, including two 3-pointers from Patrick Benka. But UR ended up just running out of time to make another run, dropping its first game of the season.
The Yellowjackets return to action after the turn of the calendar, playing at Catholic University of America on January 2nd in Washington, DC. That game is the final non-conference contest of the year for Rochester, as UAA play begins three days later when UR hosts Emory University.