HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 17, 2017) – Freshman Spencer Cook set a career high with 27 points, while senior Evan Klimchak matched a season high with 26 as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team withstood a second-half run from Ithaca Tuesday night in a 104-93 win in Hoboken.

The win moved Stevens to 11-3 (5-1), while Ithaca fell to 5-9 (1-4). The win punctuated a three-game homestand stand in which Stevens topped all three of its Empire 8 opponents by an average margin of 26 points. 

Sophomore Ryan Coffey scored 17 to go along with nine rebounds, while senior Patrick Barron put up nine on 3-for-7 shooting from three. Junior Chris Cosgrove filled up the stat sheet with seven points, five rebounds and five assists, and junior Thomas Cook set a career high with six blocks. 

As a team Stevens lit it up on the offensive end, shooting 60 percent from the field, 56 percent from three and 81 percent from the line. 

Ithaca started the game on a 5-0 spurt, but Stevens answered back with threes from Barron and Klimchak on the next two possessions to grab the early lead. Both sides went back-and-forth from there, before S. Cook connected on a fast-break layup midway through the opening half to put Stevens ahead 23-21. 

The game deadlocked again at 26 before doing so once more at 28, but Stevens rallied with a 9-3 run punctuated by an S. Cook three to go up six with 4:25 to go. Ithaca answered back to tie the game at 39 with under four to play, before Stevens closed the half on a 14-2 run to take a 12-point lead into the half. 

Klimchak scored the final six points of the outburst including a three-point play in the closing seconds. 

Stevens grew the lead to as much as 17 five minutes into the half, before six Ithaca threes over a five minute stretch brought the Bombers back to with two with just over eight to play. A layup with under six to go pulled Ithaca to within one, but a layup from Cook followed by a jumper from Klimchak sparked a 9-0 Stevens run.

Ithaca mustered an answer with a layup to get within eight with under three to play, but it's the last time they would be within single digits as Stevens' defense allowed just six more points over the remainder of regulation to clinch the win. 

Stevens will begin an E8 road weekend Friday at Nazareth at 8 p.m., before facing St. John Fisher the following afternoon at 4 p.m. 

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