POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team earned its first-ever Liberty League regular season crown after a 74-56 victory at Vassar College on Saturday. Ithaca has secured hosting rights throughout next week's Liberty League Tournament, which takes place on Friday, February 24 and Sunday, February 26. IC concludes its regular season with an 18-7 overall record and a 14-4 mark in the Liberty League.
The last time Ithaca hosted a postseason conference tournament was 2010-11 when the Bombers were members of the Empire 8.
The Bombers opened on a 5-0 run to start the game as
Luka Radovich scored all five points. IC would hold onto its lead until the 11:25 mark as Vassar drilled a three to earn its first advantage of the contest at 14-12.
The Brewers would remain ahead of the next minutes but a layup from Radovich, his 12th point of the half, put IC back ahead for good with 3:54 on the clock.
Radovich would score four more points the rest of the way to finish the first half with 16 as he wrapped up the contest with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting with eight rebounds.
Logan Wendell,
George Sikoryak III and
Triston Wennersten also scored during the final 3:54 to give the Bombers a 35-25 cushion at the break.
IC shot 12-for-30 (40.0%) in the half and held Vassar to 9-for-33 (27.3%).
It was much of the same in the second half, but
Liam Spellman came to life over the final 20 minutes as he drilled three 3-pointers and finished the game with 12 points with four makes from beyond the arc.
IC outscored Vassar, 39-31, in the second half to account for the 74-56 final. Ithaca stepped it up in the second half and shot 57.1% (16-for-28).
Wendell added 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting with seven rebounds, while Sikoryak was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor to account for 13 points. Wennersten added seven points and seven rebounds.
Skylar Sinon led IC with five assists, to go along with four points off the bench.
The Bombers concluded the contest at 28-for-58 overall and led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
The Bombers will play the winner of RPI and Skidmore on Friday in the semifinal round. RPI and Skidmore play in a first round matchup on Tuesday.
