POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team had its three-game winning streak come to an end at Clarkson University on January 15, as IC fell to the Golden Knights, 82-71, inside Alumni Gymnasium. Ithaca is now 7-5 overall on the season and 3-2 in the Liberty League.
IC jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, 8-4, in the opening three minutes of action, but after Clarkson made three free throws and a layup by the 15:39 mark to go ahead, 9-8, the Golden Knights never looked back and led the for the rest of the game.
In the opening three minutes,
Liam Spellman and
Andrew Geschickter each hit 3-pointers and
Jack Stern scored the first basket of the contest on a layup.
Stern finished the contest with 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting with nine rebounds. Stern has now reach double figures in points in five straight games this season after scoring just 39 points over the first seven games of the season.
Spellman went 5-for-9 overall – all from beyond the arc – for 15 points to go along with seven rebounds and two steals. Geschickter added 11 points with four rebounds and four assists.
Late in the first half, Clarkson went up by 15 points at 37-22 with 4:04 to go, but the Bombers fought back with a 14-2 run to close out the half trailing by just three points at 39-36.
During that stretch, Spellman connected on three 3-pointers, while Geschickter scored the other five points.
Clarkson would push its lead back out to nine points at 48-39 with 15:24 left in the contest, but IC responded with an 8-2 run to close to within three points at 50-47 at the 12:09 mark. The Golden Knights answered with its own run of 8-0 to establish another double-digit lead at 58-47 at the midway point of the half.
Ithaca only managed to trim the Clarkson's lead down to six for the rest of the contest – 77-71 with :48 left. Clarkson put the game away at the free throw line, going 5-of-6 to account for the final score of 82-71.
Zach Warech tallied 14 points off the bench, going 5-of-10 overall and 4-of-8 from 3-point range, while
Logan Wendell added 10 points.
IC held a plus-10 advantage in rebounds, 47-37, but went 26-for-75 in the game (34.7-percent). Clarkson was 27-for-58 (46.6%) from the field.
The Bombers return home on January 18 for a 7 p.m. matchup against RIT.
