Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team (16-8, 9-4 Empire 8) fell to visiting Utica (11-13, 7-6 Empire 8) 69-66 Friday night on senior night at Ben Light Gymnasium.

Ithaca chipped away at an eight-point deficit to cut within one with 38 seconds lingering in the game. Utica improved its gap to three with 33 seconds on the clock, but a Travis Warech layup brought the game to 65-64 with 24 ticks left. Ithaca forced the Pioneers to the charity stripe where they hit the back-end of two. An Eli Maravich jumper knotted action with 11 seconds remaining. Utica inbounded the ball and drained a contested baseline three for the win as time expired. Officials ruled .2 seconds be added to the clock. Ithaca got a half-court heave off, but it fell short of sending action to overtime.

Senior Sean Rossi served up 10 assists to become one of three Division III players in the 900-assist club and one of 18 across all divisions – 12 DI and three DII. Rossi has 905 career assists. The DIII record stands at 917.

Warech led the game with 25 points and had a Bomber-best eight rebounds. Maravich added 10 points, while senior Jordan Healey and junior Tom Sweeney each grabbed seven boards.

Ithaca held a 47-42 margin in rebounds. Utica shot 37.1 percent from the floor and Ithaca 33.3 percent. Ithaca hit 10 three-pointers.

The first frame featured seven lead changes with neither team holding more than a four-point gap. A Maravich three closed out the first in Ithaca's favor, 33-29. The Bombers improved their edge to six five minutes into the second, but Utica answered with a 9-0 run and a 45-42 lead. The advantage flip-flopped and Ithaca held its last lead, 49-47, at 7:24. Back-to-back Utica threes tipped off a 13-2 streak that gave the Pioneers a 60-51 lead at 2:58.

The Bombers play their final home game of the 2012-13 season on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. against Nazareth.