Freshman Aaron White (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) scored 13 points including eight in a pivotal run midway through the first half to propel The College at Brockport to a convincing 81-52 victory over Roberts Wesleyan College Saturday night in the championship game of the 48th Annual Wendy's College Classic at Roberts Wesleyan.
The championship was the first for Brockport since the 2001-02 season and just the second since 1974-75. The win was also head coach Greg Dunne's 100th career victory. In his sixth season as head coach at Brockport, Dunne now has a career record of 100-74.
Against Roberts Saturday, it was a close game for the first seven minutes before White sparked the key run with a pair of free throws followed by a 3-point shot that gave Brockport (4-1) an eight-point lead at 16-8.
Classic Most Valuable Player Brandon Caruthers (Rochester, NY/East) added to the lead with a steal and a layup 20 seconds later before White nailed another long 3-pointer at the 9:07 mark as Brockport took a double-digit lead at 20-10. Roberts Wesleyan (4-3) would not see a single digit deficit for the remainder of the game.
Caruthers added two free throws at the 4:36 mark to stretch the lead to 15 points before Bobby Bell (Rochester, NY/East) drained a 3-point shot from in front of the Roberts Wesleyan bench for an 18-point advantage. A 3-pointer by Caruthers with 2:08 remaining in the half gave Brockport an insurmountable 20-point lead at 35-15 and the Golden Eagles led 41-20 at the halftime break.
In the second half, the score remained at or near 20-points until midway through the half when senior John Ivy (Rochester, NY/East) took control of the game. After sitting out a majority of the first half with foul trouble, the senior guard connected on a 3-pointer at the 10:31 mark – just his second basket of the game – and added five free throws later giving Brockport a 28-point lead.
Ivy, who earned first-team All-Tournament honors, finished with 12 points and Caruthers scored a team-high 15 points for Brockport. Patrick Coyle (North Chili, NY/Bishop Kearney) ended up with seven points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. The 6-10 senior had 12 blocks in the three-game tournament which is fourth best on the all-time Classic list.