Revenge was finally served Saturday as the men’s basketball team defeated St. John Fisher College for the first time since any of the team’s current players have been at Ithaca. The last time the two team’s met in Ben Light Gymnasium, was at last season’s Empire 8 tournament where the Cardinals sent the Bombers to an early off season with an 88–68 win.

This time, however, the Blue and Gold proved that this is their season for conference supremacy with a 77–67 win. Senior forward Sean Leahy scored 12 points and had a career-high 16 rebounds. The six-foot seven-inch Leahy has had to become more of a rebounding presence in the absence of senior center Jeff Bostic.

“[Fisher is] a team that likes to drive to the basket and crash the boards,” Leahy said. “We had to step up and rebound. There was a stretch there where we lost it a little bit, but we were able to keep our composure and battle through it.”

From the tip-off to the final buzzer, the game was a physical battle, in which both teams had to play hard on defense. Senior guard Sean Burton had three steals while leading the South Hill squad with 21 points. Burton said Bostic’s absence has required the rest of the team to increase its defensive effort.

“Now that Bostic’s out, we really need to clamp down on defense because we don’t have the type of presence on the inside that he brings to our team,” Burton said. “Everyone is focusing a lot more and we’re getting the job done as a team.”

As halftime approached, the Bombers were only up by two before they rattled off eight points to go into the break with the score at 41–31.

When the second half started, Ithaca came out a bit flat as Fisher proceeded to go on a 9–2 run to cut the Ithaca lead to three points. However, the reliable Bomber offense and sharp shooting of Burton and sophomore guard Chris Cruz kept the Cardinals at bay for the South Hill squad to take the 10-point victory.

The Bombers are now a full game up on Rochester Institute of Technology at the top of the Empire 8, and have two conference games remaining, in the final game of the season, the Tigers will come to Ithaca in a game that could determine where the conference tournament will be held. However, Bostic said he will sit out the final two regular season games to prepare for the playoffs.

“I’m going to take two weeks off and come back when the Empire 8 tournament starts,” he said. “Hopefully by that time, I can be almost back to 100 percent.”

The Bombers return to action at 8 p.m. Saturday against Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.