CORTLAND, N.Y. – Senior AJ Lawton (Saratoga Springs) made nine 3-pointers, one shy of tying the school single-game record, and finished with a career-high 30 points as Cortland cruised past visiting Ithaca, 90-58, in a non-league game at Corey Gymnasium. The Red Dragons evened their season record at 5-5 while avenging a 72-63 road loss to the Bombers last month. 
 
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds and tied his career high with four assists for the Red Dragons. AJ Morales (Hopewell Junction/Millbrook) posted career highs of 13 points, three steals and two assists in 15 minutes off the bench. He made three of his five 3-point attempts. 
 
Kareem Lubin (South Blooming Grove/Washingtonville) posted 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Riley McEvoy (Homer) finished with six points and career highs of eight rebounds and five steals. Isaiah Preston (Penfield) chipped in with six points and shared the team lead with four assists. 
 
Liam Spellman finished with 12 points and five rebounds and Andrew Geschickter had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists for Ithaca (4-4). Spellman made four 3-pointers and Geschickter connected on three treys. Jack Stern added 10 points, while Skylar Sinon tallied six points and led the Bombers with seven rebounds and five assists. 
 
Lawton connected on 9-of-14 shots from behind the 3-point arc and finished 10-of-15 from the field overall. His previous career high was 14 points versus Oneonta in the 2019-20 season. Lawton entered the game with nine 3-pointers and 29 total points this season over his first nine contests. 
 
Dave Maggiacomo set the Cortland single-game 3-pointer record with a 10-for-12 performance at Fredonia during the 2006-07 season. Lawton joins Nicky Bonura (three occasions), Jeremy Smith (2012 versus Geneseo) and Jake DiSanto (2020 at Buffalo State) as Red Dragons to make nine 3-pointers in a game. Lawton nearly tied the school record, but his final 3-point attempt with 6:06 remaining rattled in-and-out. 
 
Cortland trailed 15-9 with 14:58 left in the first half before going on a decisive 22-0 run over the next seven and a half minutes to take a 31-15 lead. Lawton scored 11 points, including three 3-pointers, during that stretch, with Grunder adding five points and McEvoy four. 
 
Cortland led 42-28 at halftime, with Grunder (17) and Lawton (14) accounting for 31 of the 42 points. Ithaca pulled within eight points in the first two minutes of the second half, but a Lawton trey and a Lubin layup pushed the lead back to 13. The Red Dragons led by double figures the rest of the contest, extending their margin to 20 midway through the half and eventually beyond the 30-point mark in the final two minutes. 
 
The Red Dragons shot 47 percent from the field, including 53 percent in the second half, and ended the game 14-of-36 (39 percent) from 3-point range. Ithaca finished at 35 percent from the floor overall and 26 percent (10-of-39) from the arc. 
 
Cortland will travel to the University of Scranton on Thursday at 7 p.m. for its final non-league game of the season.