ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team opened the New Year with a crazy finish inside Ben Light Gymnasium as the Bombers defeated Hamilton College, 59-57, on a circus-shot buzzer-beater by Logan Wendell. Ithaca improves to 5-4 on the season, while Hamilton falls to 8-5.
With 3.8 seconds left in regulation and the game tied at 57-57, IC inbounded the ball near its own bench. Zach Warech was the inbounder and he found Luka Radovich for a potential game-winning 3-pointer, but his side was off target. Wendell raced in for the rebound and blindly flipped the ball over his head and the shot went in as the buzzer sounded to send the Bombers to victory.
LOGAN WENDELL AT THE BUZZER! @IthacaMBB defeats Hamilton, 59-57! #GoBombers #d3hoops #SCTop10 @espn @SportsCenter @kevconnorsespn pic.twitter.com/qFLlmVRq0h
— Ithaca Bombers (@BomberSports) January 2, 2023
The Bombers got off to a slow start, however, as Hamilton raced out to a 10-0 lead over the opening 2:24 of the contest. Radovich got IC on the board with a layup at the 16:14 mark to spark an 18-2 run over the next nine minutes to flip that 10-point deficit into a six-point lead at 18-12 with 7:55 remaining in the half.
During that run, Radovich notched six of his team-high 15 points with six rebounds, while Triston Wennersten scored six straight points. After Hamilton ended its drought at the 7:18 mark, Radovich tallied five more points to push IC's lead out to nine at 25-16 with 5:38 left in the half.
The lead would reach double digits, 27-17, on a Noah Downing lead with 3:30 to go, but the Continentals chipped away to cut the difference down to five at 31-26 heading into halftime.
Hamilton pulled to within three, 31-28, on the opening possession of the second half, but five more from Radovich gave the Bombers a seven-point cushion at 36-29 with just over 18 minutes remaining.
With 15:51 to go in the game, George Sikoryak III converted a layup to make it an eight-point spread at 43-35, but Hamilton scored 11 of the next 13 points to regain the lead at 46-45 with 9:10 on the clock.
The remainder of the contest would be played within a four-point difference, including ties at 55-55 and 57-57. Hamilton did lead, 57-55, with 1:21 to go, but Andrew Geschickter knotted things up with a pair of makes at the free throw line with 48 seconds left.
IC locked down on its next defensive possession as Wennersten blocked a layup attempt and then Hamilton turned the ball over with 18 seconds to go. The Bombers then wound down the clock and called timeout to set up the game-winning attempt.
Wendell finished with 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting and five rebounds, while Sikoryak, Downing and Wennersten all added six points.
The Bombers shot 25-for-62 (40.3%) in the game and held Hamilton to 39.6% (21-for-53).
IC is finished with its non-conference schedule and travels to No. 21 RPI on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Bombers will then head to Hobart for a Saturday matchup at 4 p.m.
Is THIS already the shot of the year?! ��
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) January 3, 2023
(via @BomberSports)pic.twitter.com/3uM8WEzYPA