POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team continued to roll on Friday evening, January 12, as the Bombers defeated Clarkson University, 109-102 in overtime, in Alumni Gymnasium. IC has now won five straight games to improve to 9-3 on the season and 4-1 in the Liberty League. It's the first time that IC has scored in triple digits in consecutive games since 2010-11, when the Bombers poured in over 100 in three straight contests.

The IC/Clarkson rivalry seems to always be a high scoring, as the Bombers have scored over 93 points in seven of the last eight meetings.

It was a much lower scoring first half total as the final score would indicate, as Clarkson went into intermission with a 39-36 lead. The second half was much different with IC outscoring the Golden Knights, 57-54, to force overtime.

The first half started off slow for the Bombers with the score being 12-5 in favor of Clarkson with only five minutes passed in the half. Evan Cabral shifted the momentum for IC by hitting a top of the key 3-pointer with 13 minutes left in the half. Layups from Cole Wissink, Jaylon O'Neal, and Andrew Geschickter gave the Bombers their first lead of the game at 19-16. For the remainder of the half, it was a back and forth scoring battle between the two teams. Cabral, Logan Wendell and Triston Wennersten carried scoring for the Bombers within the last 10 minutes of the half, however, solid plays and scores from the Golden Knights put them up 39-36 at half. 
 
The second half started off strong for Clarkson, going on a 6-0 scoring run. Two free throws by Aidan Holmes brought the Bombers out of their scoring drought. The Golden Knights then went on another scoring run putting them up 10 with 17 minutes left in the half, 48-38. Alex Penders scored the next five points for the Bombers, giving them momentum with 15 minutes left to go in the half, 51-43. The first lead of the half came from a Penders layup and three putting IC ahead, 62-58.

It was a balanced scoring effort from both teams until Clarkson scored nine straight to put them up, 74-71. Clarkson began to pull away by as many as 10 points with 1:45 to go in the game. Two three and ones by Geschickter put the Bombers back in the game with 47 seconds to go at 90-86.

Down two with nine seconds to go, a steal by Wissink gave the Bombers possession. Wendell capitalized off heavy pressure from Clarkson, weaved around the defense, and made a nice assist to Wennersten, sending the game into overtime at 93-93.
 
Overtime, like the rest of the game, was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams. However, baskets by Cabral, Geschickter, Wendell and Wennersten allowed for the Bombers to pull away at 105-99 with 1:47 left in overtime. The game ended on free throws from Cabral and Wennersten at 109-102.

Wennersten led IC with 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting, to go along with nine rebounds. Wendell and Cabral each tallied 22 points. Wendell was 7-for-17 overall and 7-for-10 at the line with five rebounds and five assists, while Cabral shot 7-for-8 overall and 6-for-10 at the stripe,

Geschickter added 18 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 at the line and Pender reached double figures with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Ithaca will take on St. Lawrence tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.