Men's Basketball Drops Heartbreaker To Ithaca

1/16/2010 12:00:00 AM

ITHACA, N.Y. (January 16, 2010) – Despite having five players in double-figures, led by sophomore guard Mike Cutri's team-high 20 points, the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team could not hold off Empire 8 rival Ithaca College, losing a heartbreaking game, 85-83, at Ben Light Gymnasium in Ithaca, N.Y. Stevens falls to 10-3 on the year with a 5-2 mark against conference opponents, while Ithaca improved to 11-4 on the season and 4-2 in league play.

Cutri helped Stevens climb out of an early 7-3 hole, scoring the Ducks' first nine points on a pair of three-point plays and a three from the top of the key.

After a Chris Cruz-Rivas (Syracuse, N.Y.) lay-up knotted the game at nine, Stevens got back-to-back buckets from senior forward Matt Higgins to take a four-point advantage. A Sean Rossi (Sparta, N.J.) lay-up and a couple of Jordan Marcus (West Orange, N.J.) free-throws momentarily tied the game at 13 with 15:51 left in the half, but a Cutri jumper coupled with a Russ Thompson trey gave the Ducks a five-point lead.

Up four after a Thompson jumper at 10:28, Stevens mounted a 9-3 run over the next four minutes of action, as the lead swelled to 10 with just over four and a half to play in the first. Still ahead by 10 after a Simon Smith jumper, Cruz-Rivas and Will Gaskins (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) netted back-to-back threes to pare the Ducks' advantage to four.

Higgins put Stevens ahead by six with a jumper at the three-minute mark, but Gaskins again connected from long distance trimming the Ithaca deficit to 40-37. A Bryan Franklin free-throw increased the lead to four, but an Andrei Oztemel (Westport, Conn.) triple pulled the Bombers within one with 1:27 left in the half.

An Eric Kessler three after a Cutri lay-up pushed the lead back up to six, but a Rossi triple at the buzzer made it 46-43 heading into the intermission.

Cutri opened up scoring in the second half with a jumper on the Ducks' first possession, but Rossi responded with a lay-up on the other end to keep it a three-point game at 19:05. Down five after a Cutri bucket at the 17-minute mark, Marcus nailed a three to cut the Ithaca deficit to two.

Stevens responded with a quick 5-0 spurt, capped off by a pair of Franklin free-throws, but a Marcus layup, followed by a Oztemel lay-in once again sliced the Stevens lead to three.

Trailing by five after a Higgins jumper at 13:27, Marcus drained his third three of the afternoon to cut the lead to two, but Stevens senior guard George Greco buried a triple of his own to up the Ducks' lead back to five.

Back-to-back jumpers from Gaskins and Marcus cut it to 62-61, but Kessler netted five of the game's next seven points, staking Stevens to a four-point advantage with 10-minutes left.

Masone increased the lead to six at 8:26 with a jumper from the elbow, before Kessler struck again, this time burying a three from the corner to open up a nine-point Stevens cushion. Up eight with just over seven to play, Greco found a hole in the Ithaca defense, knifing into the lane for two, to give the Ducks a double-digit lead.

Down 12 after a Smith basket, Gaskins drained a three coming out of a Stevens timeout to cut the lead to nine at the 5:02 mark. Rossi would convert a three-point play the old fashioned way to cut the lead to six with 2:57 left, but Cutri hit his first three of the day to put the Ducks up nine.

A Rossi lay-up at 2:16 followed by an Oztemel baseline three made it a four-point game before a Phil Barera (Belmont, Mass.) offensive rebound and putback cut it to 83-31 with 1:20 left in regulation.

Rossi tied the game with a turnaround jumper in the lane with 55 seconds to go, before a Marcus spinning jumper in the paint with four seconds left gave Ithaca their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Greco would push the ball down the court, but could not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded ending a heartbreaking Stevens loss.
Cutri netted a team-high 20 points in the loss, while Smith finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Kessler tallied 13 points on five-for-seven shooting, while Higgins and Greco rounded out the list of Ducks in double-figures with 12 points apiece.

Marcus led Ithaca offensively, with a game-high 22 points, while Rossi added 16 points and 11 assists. Barera finished with 15 points, while Oztemel and Gaskins totaled 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Stevens returns to action on January 20 against Baruch College.
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