HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team picked up its first win of the 2022-23 season as the Bombers defeated Centenary in the first-ever meeting between the two schools, 97-71, on Sunday afternoon, November 13. Ithaca is now 1-2 on the season and will host Keystone College on Tuesday evening in Ben Light Gymnasium.
IC put together its best offensive performance in the young season, as the Bombers shot 53.8% (35-for-65) from the field and connected on 15-of-35 (42.9%) attempts from 3-point range. IC also held a plus-11 advantage in rebounds, 45-34.
Four Bombers reached double digits for points in the win, led by 18 from
Triston Wennersten, who went 7-for-9 from the field in 17 minutes of action off the bench.
Luka Radovich added 16 points with nine rebounds, while Logan Wednell tallied 15 points.
Zach Warech chipped in 12 points, all in the first half, on 4-for-4 from 3-point range with seven rebounds.
Cole Wissink saw his first action of the season and scored seven points in just three minutes on the court as he went a perfect 3-for-3. Eight other Bombers also contributed points in the win.
It was a tight game for the opening 17 minutes as there were six ties and six lead changes up to a 31-31 deadlock with 2:59 on the clock. That tie was then broken as Noah Drowning converted his and-one at the line, and the Bombers never trailed again as they went into the half with a 42-33 lead.
Early in the second half, Centenary kept the game between a seven and 11-point spread, but a jumper from
Liam Spellman at the 15:12 mark gave IC its largest lead at that time at 55-43.
The Bombers then reached a 21-point disparity on the 3-pointer from Radovich to make it an 82-61 difference. Centenary answered with six straight points in an attempted comeback, but five straight points from Wennersten pushed the Bombers back out to a 20-point different 87-67 with 2:21 remaining in the game.
IC scored eight more points over the final 1:28 to account for the 97-71 final.
After Tuesday's home game against Keystone at 7 p.m., the Bombers will play an exhibition contest at Cornell on November 18.
