Elmira, N.Y.--The men's basketball held off a late Elmira rally to defeat the Soaring Eagles (1-10, 0-3 Empire 8) 84-71 Tuesday night. The win was the seventh straight for Ithaca (9-2, 2-0 Empire 8), one of three teamss in the Empire 8 without a loss in conference play. Junior Phil Barera (Belmont/Belmont, Mass.) led all players with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. He was one of five Bombers to score at least 10 points in the game.

Ithaca led by as many as 20 points in the second half before a Soaring Eagles three-point field goal cut the lead to five points at 67-62 with just over five minutes to play. The Bombers extended the lead back to 12 on seven straight points--three from freshman Sean Rossi (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.)—to retake control of the game. Ithaca held Elmira to just four points in the game's final four minutes.

Entering the game ranked first in the nation with a 75.3 field goal percentage, Barera went 9-of-15 in the game.

With 19 points, Rossi ranked second to Barera in scoring. He also picked up nine assists. Classmates Andrei Oztemel (Staples/Westport, Conn.) and Eli Maravich (Chartiers Valley/Pittsburgh, Pa.) tallied 17 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore Jordan Marcus (Solomon Schechter/West Orange, N.J.) added 15.

The Bombers are averaging 88.9 points per game this season, better than the school-record 88.4 scored by the 2008-09 team.

Ithaca returns to action Friday with an 8 p.m. game against Nazareth.
 

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