Box Score
ITHACA, NY- The Hartwick men's basketball team fell into a double-digit deficit in the first half and could never recover as host Ithaca took a 21-point lead into halftime and came away with a 75-54 victory on Saturday afternoon at Ben Light Gymnasium. The loss drops the Hawks to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in the Empire 8. The Bombers improve to 13-4 overall and 8-1 in the Empire 8 to remain in first place.
For the second straight game, the Hawks fell victim to a hot-shooting team as the Bombers shot nearly 53% from the floor (28-of-53) on the afternoon to the Hawks' 35.8% (19-of-53). Ithaca also made four more three-point shots than Hartwick (9-of-20 to 5-of-20) and held the edge in rebounds, 41-28.
Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) shot 6-of-14 from the floor for 14 points and snagged four rebounds.
Kyle Bradley (Cornwall, NY/Mansfield University) scored 11 points and had five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Ryan Gill (Seaville, NJ/Ocean City) came off the bench to score a season and career-high 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
The Bombers were paced by Travis Warech who shot 7-of-11 from the floor for 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Sean Rossi scored 12 points, dished out six assists, and pulled down three rebounds. Eli Maravich also scored 12 points while grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out four assists, and coming away with three steals. Tom Sweeney had 10 points and six rebounds.
The first three and a half minutes of the first half was a close affair as both teams kept pace with each other. Following the third tie of the game at 16:23, IC went on a 21-3 run that saw it pull ahead 28-10 at 8:44.
The Bomber lead grew to 21 points as Maravich hit a three-pointer with 31 seconds left to give Ithaca a 41-20 lead at halftime. The Hawks committed seven turnovers in the first half that Ithaca turned into 15 points.
In the second half, Hartwick would whittle the Bomber lead to 14 points at 17:19 on a three-point shot from Suderley. The Hawks would not allow Ithaca to run away with the game as they kept pace for the next several minutes. Following a Joey Ross jumper at the 12:36 mark to give IC an 18-point lead, 'Wick then scored six straight points to narrow the Bomber advantage to 12 points, 54-42, at 9:37.
The Ithaca lead was still 12 points at 7:58 after Gill hit a trey to make it a 58-46 game and the Hawks still had some life in them. It would be, however, the closest that Hartwick could get as IC would stay out in the front for the rest of the game to claim the victory.
Hartwick is back on the court on Tuesday night at Stevens Institute of Technology. The two teams last met this past Tuesday at Lambros Arena with the Hawks coming away with a 63-56 victory. Game time will be at 8 p.m.
