No. 8 Ithaca Downs Men's Basketball, 81-68

2/10/2009 12:00:00 AM

ITHACA, N.Y. (February 10, 2009) – Senior guard Virgil Gray scored 25 points and grabbed three rebounds, but it was not enough as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team fell to eighth-ranked Ithaca College on Tuesday evening at Ben Light Gymnasium in Ithaca, N.Y. The loss snaps a two-game conference winning streak for Stevens and drops the Ducks to 12-9 overall and 5-7 in the Empire 8. Stevens is currently in sixth-place in the conference standings, 1.5 games behind Nazareth College, Utica College, and St. John Fisher College, who are all tied for third at 6-5.

No. 8 Ithaca (21-1 overall, 12-1 Empire 8) scored the first bucket of the game and never relinquished the lead the rest of the way. Stevens was able to tie the score at 2-all 1:43 in, but the Bombers got a jumper from senior guard/forward Sean Leahy (Syracuse, N.Y.) and never looked back.

Senior guard and reigning Empire 8 Player of the Week Anthony Passalacqua was able to pull Stevens within three (9-6), but Ithaca was able to use a 16-3 run over the next 3:58 of game time to take a 25-9 lead with 12:31 left in the first half.

Ithaca was able to extend its first-half lead to 20 after a three-pointer from senior captain Brendan Rogers (Liverpool, N.Y.), but Stevens was able to fight its way back into the game before the break. Trailing 38-18 with 6:07 left in the first, the Ducks used a 16-6 run to get the Bomber lead down to 10. Both Passalacqua and senior guard Michael Baker had five points in the spurt as the Ducks went into the locker room trailing 47-37.

Ithaca came out strong in the opening moments of the second half, outscoring the Ducks 10-0 to build its lead back to 20. The Ducks were able to get the deficit down to 14 after a Gray layup with 10:01 left but over the next five minutes, the Bombers extended their advantage back to 20 and put the game away.

Passalacqua and Gray hit back-to-back layups in a 30-second span to get the lead down to 11 with 3:27 to go, but junior center Tom Brown (Bayport, N.Y.) and sophomore Chris Cruz (Camillus, N.Y.) converted on the other end to get the Ithaca lead back to 15 and seal the Ducks' fate.

Stevens was led by 25 from Gray and 15 apiece from both Passalacqua and Baker. Baker also had four rebounds and four assists. Freshman forward Simon Smith had five points and a game-high eight rebounds and sophomore forward Bryan Franklin had four points and four boards.

Stevens shot 42.9 percent from the floor and went 9-for-16 from the foul line. Ithaca shot 43.9 percent from the floor but hit 12 triples compared to just five for Stevens and converted on 19 of its 27 attempts from the line. The Bombers also held a slight, 39-38 advantage on the glass.

Cruz had 23 points and eight rebounds for Ithaca and senior guard Sean Burton (Yorkville, N.Y.) had 20 points and five assists.

Stevens will return to the hardwood when it visits first-place Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday at 8 p.m.

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