ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) scored the game-winning layup with four seconds remaining as Cortland defeated host Ithaca College, 68-67, in a non-league contest. The Red Dragons improved to 3-1 with the victory.

Cortland trailed by one with nine seconds left. After calling two timeouts, the Red Dragons got the ball in the hands of junior Harrison Hefele (Greenlawn/Friends Academy) beyond the top of the key. Hefele beat a defender, drove into the lane and dished the ball to McMahon for the winning layup. Ithaca's final possession resulted in a turnover in the frontcourt as the buzzer sounded.

Junior Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy) led Cortland with 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Junior Brian Manning (Elmira/Southside) scored 12 points and grabbed six boards, Hefele finished with 11 points (3-of-4 three-pointers) and four assists and McMahon tallied 10 points and pulled down six rebounds.

Junior Dan Sternkopf (Washingtonville) shared the team lead with six rebounds and scored six points on 3-of-4 shooting. Junior Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) added seven points and three assists.

Ithaca (1-5) was led by Frank Mitchell's 24 points and 10 rebounds. He made 10-of-15 field goals. Jordan Marcus hit 4-of-11 three-pointers and finished with 17 points. Sean Rossi added 12 points and four assists.

Cortland trailed 39-31 at halftime, but opened the second half on a 10-2 run to knot the game at 41-41. The Red Dragons took their largest lead at 60-54 on a Hefele three-pointer with 7:09 remaining. Ithaca regained the lead at 65-64 when Marcus hit a three-pointer, was fouled and completed the four-point play with 2:51 left. Mitchell's layup with 2:16 left pushed the lead to three, but Hefele set up Manning for a layup with 1:48 on the clock to close the gap back to one.

Ithaca missed a three-pointer with 1:19 left but grabbed the offensive rebound, and a Cortland foul gave the Bombers a new shot clock with 51 seconds left. With less than 20 seconds remaining, Manning was able to slightly bother an Ithaca shooter on an otherwise wide open layup attempt. The shot missed and McMahon grabbed the rebound with about 13 seconds remaining to set up the final Cortland possession.

Cortland opens SUNYAC play by hosting Plattsburgh Friday at 8 p.m. and Potsdam Saturday at 4 p.m.

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