Mens Basketball Opens Season With Loss at Home Versus SUNY Cortland

ITHACA, NY The Ithaca College men’s basketball team began their 20222023 season hosting SUNY Cortland on Nov. 8, falling 8280.

The game started out with both teams missing on their first attempts, needing a couple of possessions to knock the Rust off. AJ Lawton and Kareem Lubin got the Red Dragons offense going, and the Bombers guard Zach Warech found his scoring touch early. Warech helped keep the score close early, scoring eight of the Bombers first 10 points of the game, as Ithaca trailed 1310 five minutes into the game. Sophomore guard Logan Wendell made his first career start for the Bombers, who were without a graduate student guard Skylar Sinon. Wendell got going with back-to-back three pointers, with the Bombers trailing 1916. As the Bombers began using their bench, they received contributions from sophomores Noah Downing and Triston Wennersten to fuel a mini run and take the lead. After the first 12 minutes, the Bombers led 2521.

However, the Red Dragons caught fire from beyond the arc late in the half. Riley McEvoy and Lawton helped fuel a 219 run for Cortland, each scoring nine. The Red Dragons would take a 4436 lead into halftime, shooting 48.3% from the field and 75% from three-point range. The Bombers shot 39.4% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc. The Red Dragons also held the advantage on the boards, leading 2417 overall and 75 on Offensive boards.

Coming out of the break, the Bombers were able to trim their deficit to two. A 148 run in the first five minutes made the score 5250, with Wendell scoring seven and Graduate student forward Luka Radovich contributing with five. However, the Red Dragons lead quickly extended after a 92 run fueled by six points from Lubin. The game would go back and forth, with each team trading scores and no scoring changes. With about eight minutes left in the second half, the Bombers would trail by three. Logan Wendell drove into the paint and finished a contested layup to tie the game at 64. However, the Bombers could not capitalize, as the Red Dragons responded with a 112 run to retake the lead 7566. Ithaca would be able to make some progress into a comeback late, as Wendell scored six straight to make it 7978 Cortland with 30 seconds left. The Red Dragons made a pair of free throws in their possession, leading 8178 with 20 seconds left after the Bombers called timeout. A layup from Wennersten and quick foul after would give the Bombers a chance to tie or win with six seconds left, trailing 8280. Off the inbounds play, Warech threw an overhead pass to an open Wendell who stopped at the three-point line and drove down to the baseline, but the jumper wouldn’t fall.

The final score would hold with an 8280 win for Cortland, who shot 46% from the field and 40.7% from three. The Bombers shot 43.5% from the field and 38.1% from three. The Red Dragons also led in rebounds, 4236, and Offensive rebounds, 138. Wendell led the way for the Bombers in scoring with 26, followed by Warech with 16 and Radovich with 11.

Ithaca dropped to 01 to start the season and will travel to Montclair, New Jersey to play Montclair State University at 7 pm on Nov. 11.