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Tom Sweeney

Men's Basketball

Bomber Men's Basketball Falls Short of Second-Half Comeback at Nazareth

Box Score

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team (13-6, 8-2 Empire 8) rewrote a double-digit second-half deficit, but host Nazareth (13-8, 5-5 Empire 8) held on just long enough to claim a 62-61 victory Friday night.

The Golden Flyers used a 17-point swing to close out the first frame and open the second, while holding Ithaca to just two points over a four-minute span. Nazareth put the Bombers in a 14-point deficit at 19:08 of the latter half. Ithaca crept within five on six occasions, but it was not until the three-minute mark that the Bombers made it a one-point game. An Eli Maravich layup with 23 seconds left brought action within one. Each team went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe down the stretch to preserve the Nazareth win.

Junior Tom Sweeney led all players with 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting in just 20 minutes on the hardwood. Classmate Frank Mitchell posted 18 points. Senior Jordan Healey grabbed a Bomber-best seven boards with Mitchell and senior Sean Rossi each pulling down five. Rossi added seven assists. 

The first frame featured eight lead changes. Neither team held more than a three-point lead until a Nazareth layup at 1:12, awarding the Golden Flyers a 31-26 advantage. Nazareth closed out the first with a 13-2 run good for a 36-26 halftime gap.

Nazareth went on to take a 40-26 lead at 19:08 of the second, but the Bombers used a 12-3 run to pull within five at 13:53. Nazareth maintained its distance until Sweeney cut the lead to 57-54 at 3:18. Trailing by five with 36 ticks left, Mitchell and Maravich recorded back-to-back layups to implement a one-point contest with 23 seconds on the board. A free throw put the Golden Flyers ahead by two, but with five seconds lingering Mitchell drew a foul. He made the front-end of two before time expired for the Bombers.

Ithaca shot 45.3 percent from the floor, while the Golden Flyers converted on 35.6 percent of their shots. Nazareth owned the rebound count, 40-34.

The Bombers return to action on Saturday, Feb. 2 with a 4 p.m. contest at Houghton.