TROY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team earned a significant Liberty League victory on Friday evening at No. 19 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as the Bombers defeated the Engineers, 64-53. With the win, IC improves to 6-4 on the season and 2-1 in the Liberty League, while RPI falls to 9-2. The 53 points allowed on Friday evening are the fewest that IC has surrendered to RPI since 1995.
The Bombers trailed RPI, 26-23, at the half, but outscored the Engineers, 41-27, in the final period to account for the 11-point victory. IC went 9-for-33 (27.3%) in the first half and bounced back to shoot 54.6% (12-for-22) in the second half. Ithaca also went 13-for-15 at the line over the final 20 minutes of action. IC also outrebounded RPI, 45-31, as five different players pulled down more than five boards.
For the second consecutive game,
Logan Wendell was the story for the Bombers' team as he dropped a season and game-high 29 points on a nearly perfect performance from the field, as he went 9-for-10 overall and 6-for-6 from 3-point range. Wendell also went 5-for-7 at the free throw line.
Luka Radovich pulled down 10 rebounds, to go along with six points, while
George Sikoryak III and
Triston Wennersten also chipped in six points.
Jack Stern added five points, while
Zach Warech and
Noah Downing each finished with four points each.
Wendell hit the first shot of the game, a 3-pointer at the 18:44 mark, and then neither team would score until an RPI 3-pointer with 16 minutes to go.
The Bombers then built a seven-point lead, 10-3, behind four points from Radovich and a three by Wennersten by the 12:35 mark of the half, but RPI answered with a 13-4 run over the next six minutes to secured a 16-14 edge.
A three-ball from Wendell and layup from Stern with 5:18 remaining put IC back ahead, 19-16, but the Engineers controlled the rest of the half.
In the second half, RPI notched the first bucket to build a five-point cushion at 28-23, but seven straight points from Wendell knotted things up at 30-30. After two free throws from Sikoryak, RPI hit a three to go back ahead, 33-32, but Wendell scored on a jumper to give the Bombers the lead for good with 16:32 left in the contest.
IC's largest lead of the evening came at the 2:28 mark as Wendell made both at the line to make it a 60-45 difference.
Ithaca travels to Hobart tomorrow for a 4 p.m. Liberty League matchup.
