Nov 30, 2010
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Ithaca senior center Phil Barera (Belmont, MA) made 16-of-18 shots from the floor and finished with game highs of 33 points and 12 rebounds as the Bombers defeated Cortland, 84-75, in a non-conference game.
Junior Jordan Marcus (West Orange, NJ/Solomon Schechter) added 12 points and sophomore Sean Rossi (Sparta, NJ) finished with 10 points and 14 assists for Ithaca (3-2). Sophomore Andrei Oztemel (Westport, CT/Staples) also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior Dustin Marshall (Newfield) scored 23 points in addition to totaling five rebounds, five assists and four steals for Cortland (2-2). He tallied 21 of his points in the second half. Sophomore Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) matched his career high with 21 points and dished out three assists.
Also for Cortland, sophomore Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge) finished with nine points, while freshmen Maurice Kearney (Uniondale) and Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) scored eight points apiece. McMahon was 3-for-3 from the floor and matched Marshall with five rebounds.
In a tightly contested first half, Cortland led 27-26 on a Winter layup with 4:02 remaining. Ithaca finished the half, however, on a 10-2 run and led 36-29 at intermission. Barera recorded 19 points, on 9-of-10 shooting, and grabbed eight rebounds in the opening period, while Winter scored 14 points in the half.
The Bombers led by double figures much of the second half. Their largest lead was 68-50 on a Barera layup with 8:41 left. A Kearney layup and a three-pointer and three free throws by Marshall drew Cortland within 10 at 68-58 with 7:12 on the clock.
Ithaca took a 15-point lead at 75-60 with 5:37 left, but Cortland scored the next eight points – five by Smith – and was within 75-68 with 2:37 remaining. Rossi buried a three-pointer with 2:05 left, and his layup with 1:29 left kept Ithaca's lead at 10. Winter responded with a trey at the 1:19 mark, but Barera's layup with 41 seconds left help put the game out of reach.
Ithaca made only 1-of-18 three-pointers in the first half, but outscored Cortland 14-0 on "second-chance points" in the period. The Bombers then made 5-of-12 treys in the second half. Ithaca shot 52 percent from the field compared to Cortland's 43 percent.
Cortland opens State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC ) play on Friday at Buffalo State.