TROY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team continued to struggle to string together victories in Liberty League play as they fell to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers on the road by a score of 82-70. After a back and forth first half, the Bombers second half woes continued, getting outscored by double digits in the latter half of action for the eighth time in their last fifteen contests.
The Bombers entered the matchup riding some positive energy from their 91-74 victory over Bard College. They looked to avenge their 88-73 loss to the Engineers on Jan. 16. The Bombers were going to once again be without their star guard
Evan Cabral who continues to be sidelined by a foot injury.
Without Cabral, the Bombers struggled to find a leader offensively today. They did not have a player score over 15 points, with junior forward
Matthew Zenker and sophomore guard
Thomas McKiernan leading the way with 13 points apiece. McKiernan has stepped up in the absence of Cabral, matching his season-high in points the last two contests.
The two squads traded buckets throughout the first-half, with eight total lead changes, with neither team leading by more than four points. The Bombers had six different players knock down a 3-pointer in the first half, shooting an efficient 8-15 as a team in the first half.
The Bombers shot went cold in the second half. While the Engineers did not punish the Bombers with the 3, they played efficient basketball closer to the basket. They shot 64.6% from the field on the game, and only attempted 12 3-pointers compared to 34 from Ithaca.
The Engineers set the tone early in the second half, scoring the first seven points in the first 80 seconds, with the latter five coming from junior guard PJ Scalisi. Scalisi led the way for the Engineers with 19 points. Junior guard Yechiel Stewart and junior forward Andrew Deppe also contributed 18 and 16 points respectively. The trio shot a combined 19-29 from the field, and were the difference makers for the home team.
After this fast start, the game was never in doubt for the Engineers. The Bombers caught the deficit to five with 10:45 to go with a layup from junior guard
Jaylon O'Neal. Scalisis immediately responded with an and-one to go up 61-53. McKiernan knocked down a triple to cut the deficit to three, but once again it was Scalisi who responded with a bucket on the other end. With 52 seconds remaining, Stewart connected on a 3-pointer to cap off a 7-0 run by the Engineers and put them up by 11 to ice the game.
The Bombers are tied with Skidmore College for the sixth and final spot of the Liberty League playoffs heading into the final weekend of play. Hobart and Clarkson trail them by two games, with each team having two games remaining.
The Bombers will have to win one of their final games, with the first one being against Skidmore next Friday, Feb. 20 as the Bombers look to extend their season into the postseason.
