The Ithaca College men’s basketball team faced the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers on Jan. 19 at Ben Light Gymnasium. Although the first 25 minutes of the game were back and forth, the Engineers couldn’t seem to be stopped for the last 15 minutes of the game, outscoring the Bombers 42–26 and defeating them 82–66.
The Bombers were led by senior guard Aidan Holmes, who had 12 points and went 4–5 from behind the arc. Junior guard Logan Wendell had 12 points and three assists.
Senior forward Avery Eugster and sophomore guard Dylan Matchett both led the Engineers with each having 20 points and six rebounds. Graduate student forward Jonny Angbazo had 15 points and six rebounds.
The game started out with the Bombers winning the tip off and sophomore guard Cole Wissink making a spin around jumper for the first points of the game to take a 2–0 lead with 19:38 remaining in the half.
Almost four minutes later, Holmes made a 3-pointer off an assist from first-year guard Evan Cabral. Shortly after, the Engineers ended the Bomber’s 7–0 run off a layup from first-year forward Andrew Deppe. Over the next two minutes, the Engineers scored four unanswered points to make the score 7–6.
To end the Engineers run, Wendell crossed up his defender and drove the ball in for a layup for a 9–6 score with 12:38 left in the half. Almost two minutes later, first-year forward Alex Penders made a corner three to take a 14–9 lead.
However, over the next minute the Engineers got five unanswered points off a three from Matchett and a layup from sophomore forward Nate Tawiah-Boaten. This would knot the score at 14 with nine minutes remaining in the half.
For the next few minutes, the teams continued to trade points with each other. With 1:23 remaining in the half, Eugster would make a step back 3-pointer to tie the score up at 26. Both teams would go into the locker room with the Engineers having a 30–29 lead over the Bombers.
Right out of the locker room the Bomber’s hustle was unmatched with Wendell making a 3-pointer with 19:21 remaining in the game to make the score 32–30. Senior guard Triston Wennersten would then make a pull up jumper to give the Bombers a 34–30 lead.
However, the Engineers would score five unanswered points off a layup and a 3-pointer from first-year guard PJ Scalisi to take a 35–34 lead with 17:59 remaining. One possession later, the Bombers answered right back with two consecutive 3-pointers from Holmes to take a 40–35 lead.
In the next minute and a half, Eugster would score seven points to give the Engineers a 42–40 lead and the confidence boost. Over the next eight minutes, the Engineers would shut down the Bombers going on a 26–10 run to take a 68–50 lead with 6:45 left in the game. The Bombers continued to fight back, even going on a run at one point but could not seem to stop the Engineers who won 82–66.
For the Bombers next game against Skidmore College, head coach Waleed Farid said that good defensive play needs to last the whole game.
“We just need to have a little bit more defensive consistency and toughness,” Farid said. “We had some of it today to start the game and then we kind of wore down, and they were tougher than us. It’s going to be another physical game. We are always going to be undersized, and we got to approach it with the mentality to be able to play as tough as we can, both physically and mentally.”
With the loss, the Bombers record goes to 9–6 with its next game being against Skidmore College at 4 p.m. Jan. 20 at Ben Light Gymnasium.
