RPI’s season ends in first round
ITHACA, N.Y. >> The Ithaca College men’s basketball team kept its season alive on Tuesday night as the Bombers came away with an 88-74 Liberty League First Round victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) inside Ben Light Gymnasium. With the win, Ithaca improves to 16-10 and earns its first- ever home conference playoff triumph in program history. The Engineers conclude at 15-11.
Junior Sebastian Alderete led all scorers with 25 points on 10of-22 shooting. He scored 16 of his points in the first half and started the game 5- of- 6 from the field.
Seniors Peter Ezema and Matt Flood each tallied 16 points in the win. Ezema also pulled down seven rebounds and recorded two steals to surpass his own singleseason school record with 70 on the year. Flood made all four of his shots from 3-point range and was 4-for-5 at the free throw line with three assists.
The Bombers went 31-for- 61 (50.8%) from the floor and 10- of21 (47.6%) from 3-point range in the game. IC also was 16-for-19 (84.2%) at the free throw line.
Senior Andreas Kontopidis led the Engineers with 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Classmate Marcus Giese added a double- double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Tom Horvat, also a senior,
chipped in with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Rensselaer shot 47.6% (30-for- 63), but only 33.3% (10-for-30) from behind the arc.
In the first half, Ithaca shot 20- for- 34 (58.3%) overall, 7- for- 13 (58.3%) from distance and did not
commit a turnover, which led to a 48- 36 lead. On the defensive end in the opening 20 minutes, IC forced RPI into 10 turnovers and turned them into 15 points.
It was a fast-paced and high- scoring start as the Bombers raced out to a 1611 lead over the opening 5:05 of action. The final six points of that early spurt were scored on back- toback 3-pointers by Ezema, but from there, RPI tied
things up at 16-16 a minute later.
After four ties over the next five minutes, the last at 28-28, Ithaca went on a 12- 0 run up to the 4:34 mark to take a 40-28 lead. Flood connected on consecutive threes, while Alderete scored four points and Ezema added two.
The Bombers extended their lead to 48- 33 with 1:16 to go on a three from sophomore Bryan Karl for their largest lead of the
half and took a 48- 36 advantage into intermission.
Over the opening three minutes of the second half, Ithaca maintained its double- digit lead at 55- 41. The Bombers then went scoreless over next six minutes, which allowed the Engineers to creep back to within six points at 55- 49. Giese scored on a layup, Dom Black hit from distance, Kontopidis made a free throw and Patrick Mahoney scored on a layup for
RPI.
Ezema ended the scoreless drought on a layup with 10:51 left to go and then extend IC’s spread to 61- 50 with four more points at the 8:33 mark.
RPI answered with five unanswered points to trim the difference back down to six points, 61- 55, on a trey from Mitchel Wayand and a basket from Black with 7:43 left, but the Bombers put the game away over the next three
minutes with a 13-2 run. Flood netted seven points during the stretch on a 3- pointer and four free throws.
The game remained at a double- digit spread from there to send the Bombers to their semifinal matchup with top- seeded Skidmore College on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Should Ithaca win, it will play the winner of St. Lawrence University and Hobart College on Sunday at 2 p.m.