Men's Basketball Falls to Ithaca at Cortaca Classic

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Ithaca College men's basketball team posted an 86-73 win over visiting Bridgewater State University on Friday night at the Cortaca Classic.

Joey Flanagan led the way for the Bombers with a career-high 22 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Peter Ezema narrowly missed a double-double after notching nine points and a career-best 16 boards. Marc Chasin added 18 points in the win to go along with three assists and Sam Bevan contributed 15 points including three 3-pointers to go along with four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Carroll Rich poured in 12 points and tallied two steals.

Fawaz Mass paced the visiting Bears with career-high totals of 25 points and 11 rebounds. Mass connected on 11 of 21 field goal attempts and six of his 11 boards came off the offensive glass. Greg Romanko added 15 points, four rebounds, a block and two steals, while Ryan Carney chipped in 15 points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench.

Bridgewater held a 41-40 lead at the break but saw that lead quickly evaporate as the Bears were outscored 17-4 over the first six minutes of the second half. Chasin notched seven points during the run including a three-pointer which gave the Bombers a 57-45 lead with 14:42 remaining in the stanza.

The Bears answered with a 10-1 run of their own, led by four points from Mass, to cut the deficit to 58-55 with just over ten minutes left to play. Romanko capped off the spurt with a three-pointer.

Following a Rich layup, Carney knocked down a pair of free throws to again make it a three-point game (60-57) as the clock ticked down to eight minutes. Ithaca responded with an 8-2 flurry to push the lead back to nine points (68-59) with under six minutes to go.

A pair of Joseph Carty free throws followed by a Mass jumper pulled the Bears to within five, 68-63, with 5:12 showing on the scoreboard. The Bombers, however, answered again with a Rich jumper and a Bevan trifecta to make it a ten-point game (73-63).

Ithaca converted 11-of-12 free throws opportunities over the final two minutes to earn the 13-point win.

After shooting 55% (16-29) from the floor in the first half, the Bears struggled in the second half converting on just 12 of 38 (32%) of their field goal attempts including 2-for-13 (15%) from behind the arc.

The Bombers shot 48% (28-59) for the game and knocked down 24 of 30 (80%) free throw attempts.

The Cortaca Classic continues for both teams on Saturday. Ithaca entertains SUNY Cobleskill at 2:00 PM, while Bridgewater State travels to SUNY Cortland for a four o'clock game with the Red Dragons.