CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team found themselves in a back-and-forth showdown on Tuesday evening at SUNY Cortland, as the Bombers came away with a 77-74 victory inside Corey Gymnasium to improve to 2-1 on the season. Over the course of 40 minutes, IC and Cortland traded leads 10 times and were tied on five other occasions.
Senior Riley Thompson provided the eventual game-winning basket with a 3-pointer with 2:50 left in regulation to give Ithaca a 75-73 lead. Fellow senior Sebastian Alderete iced the contest with a pair of free throws with under 10 seconds to go to make the score 77-74 and Cortland turned the ball over on its final possession to give Ithaca the victory. The Red Dragons would score just one point over the final 5:37 of action.
Alderete finished the night with his second career double-double, as he ripped down a career-best 16 rebounds to go along with 11 points and four steals. Freshman Jack Stern added 14 points and four blocks in 18 minutes off the bench, including 10 in the second half, while Thompson and senior Jake Mitchell each ended the night with 14 points apiece. Mitchell went 4-for-7 from 3-point range in the win.
Sophomore Skylar Sinon filled the stat sheet with nine assists, seven points, five rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Clay Medling added seven points on a perfect 3-for-3 evening. Junior Bryan Karl also chipped in seven points.
The Bombers shot just 26-for-78 (33.3-percent) overall, but used 19 Cortland turnovers (14 steals) to score 23 points and pulled down 14 offensive rebounds to score 14 second chance points.
Ithaca scored the first basket of the game on a layup from Medling, which was assisted by Sinon, in the opening 30 seconds. Cortland would score the next five points before the Bombers answered with a 4-0 run behind buckets from Karl and Thompson to regain the lead, 6-5, with 17:41 remaining.
The Red Dragons responded with back-to-back 3-pointers in just over a minute to go back up, 11-8, and would hold onto the lead for the next seven minutes of action. With 9:17 to play in the half, Karl drilled a 3-pointer to cap off an 8-0 and send the Bombers back ahead, 23-21.
Cortland quickly answered with two more 3-pointers, including one that led to a four-point play just 30 seconds later, to make the score, 28-23. IC knotted the game at 28-28 with 7:28 to go as Mitchell connected from 3-point range and Sinon hit a jumper.
From there, the deficit for either team would remain between one or two points until Thompson knocked down a three-ball to put Ithaca up, 39-35, with 3:18 to go. Ithaca held onto the lead for the rest of the half and took a 44-40 advantage into the locker room.
Ithaca shot just 37.4-percent (16-for-43) in the opening 20 minutes but forced Cortland to turn the ball over 10 times, which equated to 18 points for the Bombers.
Mitchell had a breakout for half with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Sinon added six assists, three steals and three points, while senior Thompson chipped in nine points.
The Bombers found their shooting stroke early in the second half as IC opened the initial 4:11 on a 12-4 run to build a 56-44 edge. Medling scored points during the run, while Mitchell hit a 3-pointer and Alderete and Sinon netted the other four points.
Ithaca's double-digit lead was short-lived, however, as the Red Dragons came all the way back and went ahead, 57-56, with 12:03 to go in the game. Cortland went 7-for-7 at the free throw line during the 13-0 run.
After a made free throw by Stern tied the game at 57-57 with 11:39 on the clock, Cortland scored four more points to cap the run off at 17-1 and make the score 61-57.
The Red Dragons went up by as many as six points with 5:37 remaining in the contest by a 73-67 margin as the Bombers scored just 10 points over a nine-minute stretch.
IC then chipped away with five straight points from Stern on a three-point play and two more made free throws by the 3:52 mark to bring the Bombers to within a point at 73-72.
The Thompson 3-pointer ensued with 2:50 remaining to conclude the 8-0 run. Cortland went 1-for-2 at the line with 57 seconds to go before Alderete made both attempts at the stripe to cap off the scoring.
Ithaca returns to action on Sunday, December 1 for a 1 p.m. matchup at Wells College.