ITHACA, N.Y. – Ithaca rallied from a 13-point deficit early in the second half and the host Bombers defeated Cortland, 72-63, in a non-league matchup.
Cortland (1-2) was led by
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. He was 7-of-13 from the floor.
Eric Edwards (Binghamton) scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds,
AJ Morales (Hopewell Junction/Millbrook) made 3-of-7 3-pointers and finished with nine points, and
Shannon Newkirk-Denny (Queens/The Pomfret School) also tallied nine points.
Zach Warech made 6-of-10 field goals, including 4-of-7 from the arc, and led Ithaca (2-1) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Skylar Sinon finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Luke Radovich scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and George Sikoryak III added nine points.
Cortland led 12-3 about seven minutes into the game before Ithaca came back to tie the game at 17-17. Later in the half a 10-0 Cortland run, starting with two Morales 3-pointers, gave the Red Dragons a 34-24 lead. The margin was as much as 11 before Cortland settled for a 38-31 halftime lead.
Cortland led by 13 points twice in the second half, the last at 49-36 on a
Cam Williams (Rome/Rome Free Academy) 3-pointer with 16:01 remaining. Ithaca answered with a 10-2 run over the next three and a half minutes, capped by treys from Warech and Triston Wennerstein, to cut its deficit to five.
Ithaca took its first lead of the second half at 56-55 on a Radovich 3-pointer with 8:41 remaining. The Bombers led the rest of the game, although the Red Dragons were still within a point at 61-60 on an
AJ Lawton (Saratoga Springs) 3-pointer with 4:37 left. Ithaca, however, outscored Cortland, 12-3, the rest of the way to pull away for the victory.
Cortland shot 52 percent from the field in the first half, but only 34 percent in the second half to finish at 43 percent for the contest. The Red Dragons were 9-of-26 (35 percent) from the 3-point line. Ithaca shot only 33 percent in the first half but hit 46 percent of its second-half shots to end the game at 39 percent. The Bombers connected on 12-of-25 (48 percent) of its shots from long distance.
Cortland will play at Elmira in a non-league game Saturday at 1 p.m.
