As Mark Twain once said, “It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight. It’s about the size of the fight in the dog.”
That was the theme Nov. 13 as an undersized yet scrappy Ithaca College men’s basketball squad defended the Ben Light Gymnasium in their home opener against its rival, the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons.
The Bombers now enjoy a 2-1 record, while the Red Dragons fall to 1-2 early in the season. The 64-58 final came to fruition with the help of first-year forward Chris Leysath’s 16 points on 8-12 shooting, with 13 rebounds to boot. Senior captain guard Logan Wendell delivered with 21 points and three steals, including multiple cold-blooded free throws to put the game out of reach in the final minute.
The game began with fast-paced, back-and-forth action between the Bombers and the Red Dragons. Aside from Wendell, who shined early on with eight of Ithaca’s first 10 points, first-year guard Thomas McKiernan, sophomore guards Jaylon O’Neal and Jose Padilla and senior captain guard Aidan Holmes.
The Bombers were tasked with guarding taller players, rebounding in the paint and drawing charges whenever the opportunity arose. However, Cortland’s size and skill proved to be more effective in the first half. Their defense turned to offense with 12 points from turnovers. Their guards could get downhill and finish in the paint, while their forwards could stretch the floor with 3-point shooting. As the half closed out with Cortland up 34-29, Wendell and the Bombers knew something needed to change.
“[In the] first half we came out a little bit flat,” Wendell said. “We talked about it in the locker room. That wasn’t going to get it done for us.”
The start of the second half showed the momentum quickly shift, with the Bombers scoring three straight buckets on drives to the paint. Sophomore guard Evan Cabral was at the forefront of this resurgence, using his physicality and tenacity to get some tough points, despite the Cortland defense draped all over him. The South Hill Squad’s consistent discipline on offense and their persistence on defense allowed the Bombers to score 10 points from turnovers in the second half compared to Cortland’s two.
“I think the whole second half we just played a lot harder than the first half,” head coach Waleed Farid said. “It wasn’t a pretty game, but our effort level never dipped.”
As the game neared its final five minutes, Ithaca held a tight lead that never went beyond five points. One factor that shook Cortland’s offensive flow was Farid’s decision to stick with a 2-3 zone in the final minutes.
“We love to use the 2-3 zone to throw off their rhythm,” Farid said. “It’s early in the season, so you never know how much a team’s spent preparing for zone defense.”
Ithaca finally gained a decent lead when Leysath made a timely putback layup off a missed shot. The momentous bucket forced a Cortland timeout, and the Bombers held a 57-51 lead over their rivals with 3:09 left.
“I think the brightest star of all was Chris Leysath,” Farid said. “He didn’t look like a [first-year]. He doesn’t look like a [first-year] normally, but he didn’t look like a [first-year] with his play today.”
Despite Cortland cutting Ithaca’s lead back down to three with two minutes left, the Bombers’ steady pressure and implementation of the zone defense continued to be a deciding factor. It seemed that their smaller size allowed them to play at a consistently fast pace throughout the game.
“In the second half we just came out a little bit sharper [with] a little more energy,” Wendell said. “I think we wore them down by the end of the game.”
Wendell put his final mark on the game as he hit four clutch free throws with under a minute left to play. Despite the obvious stars of the game in Wendell and Leysath, Farid noted that everyone that played had a significant impact.
“They all did something different,” Farid said. “Jaylon was active, poking balls away on the defensive end, things like that. Evan brought an energy to the start of the second half, just his ferocity towards the rim. Logan is the closer, he just made the big plays, made the free throws.”
The Bombers look to build off of this hard-fought victory as they set their sights on a tough road matchup at 6 p.m. Nov. 20 against Utica University.
