Junior guard Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.Y.) scored 28 points and senior forward Simon Smith (Cranford, N.J.) tallied 16 points and pulled down 18 rebounds as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team earned a 71-67 win at Ithaca College in a key Empire 8 contest Friday night at Ben Light Gymnasium. With the win, the Ducks remain in a tie for first place in the conference standings at 6-2, while the loss drops the Bombers to 5-3. The win is the first at Ithaca for Stevens since joining the Empire 8 in 2007-08.
The first half had two remarkable individual performances – Jones for the Ducks and sophomore forward Frank Mitchell (Hillsborough, N.J.) for Ithaca. Jones scored 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting while Mitchell had 19, hitting eight of his 12 field-goal attempts.
After a tight start, Ithaca was able to take a brief six-point lead at 25-19 following a Mitchell three-point play with 9:09 left in the first, but Stevens responded with a 11-0 run keyed by a pair of Jones layups and two buckets from sophomore forward Max Schwartz (Bridgewater, N.J.) for a 30-25 margin.
The Bombers responded and cut the Ducks lead to one (34-33) with 1:36 left in the period and the two teams went into the break with the score 36-34 Ducks.
Stevens (14-4 overall) extended the lead to 49-44 5:44 into the second half thanks another Jones layup and the game hovered between five and one for the next 10 minutes with neither team making a run. The Bombers cut the margin to one after a three-pointer from junior guard Sean Rossi (Sparta, N.J.), Stevens' counterpart, junior Russ Thompson (West Orange, N.J.) answered with a three of his own to put the Ducks back up four (62-58) with 7:44 left.
Stevens pushed the lead to six two times in the next minute and eventually extended the margin to seven after 1-of-2 at the line by Smith but Mitchell single handedly helped the Bombers stay in the game down the stretch.
With 2:31 left he brought the Bombers within five, and following a stop, Mitchell made a running layup on the right side with the foul to make it 67-65 Stevens with 47 seconds left.
Ithaca quickly fouled and sent sophomore guard Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) to the line, and the sophomore was up to the task, drilling both to put the Ducks back up four with 39 seconds left.
Mitchell came through for Ithaca once again, converting a spinning layup play on the next Bomber possession with 26 seconds left to cut the Stevens edge to two at 69-67. Again Ithaca quickly fouled and again Skrelja converted a pair to put Stevens back up four.
The Ducks were able to force a stop on the next Ithaca possession and came away from Ben Light Gymnasium with a big win to maintain a share of the top spot in the Empire 8 standings at 6-2 with Hartwick College and Nazareth College.
Jones finished 11-for-18 from the field and 5-for-5 at the line. He grabbed seven rebounds and tallied a pair of thefts. Smith added three helpers to his 16 points and 18 rebounds, while senior guard Michael Cutri (West Caldwell, N.J.) had nine points, seven rebounds and two assists. Skrelja finished with nine points, three boards, three helpers and a pair of steals.
The Ducks ended with a 44-33 edge on the glass and had 15 assists against just eight turnovers. Stevens shot 28-for-62 (45.2 percent) from the field but connected on just three of their 15 attempts from long range. The Ducks were 12-for-19 (63.2 percent) from the line.
Ithaca was led by 28 points and nine rebounds from Mitchell and 14 from Rossi who also added nine assists. The Bombers finished 27-for-63 (42.9 percent) from the floor and 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) from long range. Ithaca was 7-for-11 from the line.
Stevens will look for its seventh Empire 8 win on Saturday at Utica College. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. and all the action will be webcast live at www.Empire8.tv.