The Hamilton College Continentals held off a scrappy Ithaca College Bombers team 73-70. The Bombers suffered their first home loss in Ben Light Gymnasium, dropping the team to a 5-3 record before a long three-week layoff.
The Continentals’ senior guards Hank Morgan and Teja Singh combined for 45 points on an efficient 63% from the field. Sophomore guard Matthew Rideout contributed 12 points, 11 of which came in the first half. Despite suffering a tough loss, Bombers’ head coach Waleed Farid commended his team for their resilience and effort throughout the game.
“We had a lot of energy,” Farid said. “We fought, got down a little bit, fought back, played even for most of that second half. I’m never worried about our guys and how hard they’re going to compete. We’ve got a lot of guys who care and play with fire and passion.”
Hamilton College boasted an imposing 10-man rotation with an average height of 6’5”, presenting a tall task for a guard-dominant Bombers team. This proved difficult as the Continentals were able to out-rebound the Bombers 40-30, including 13-7 on the offensive glass. This led to four more second-chance points, which ultimately played a crucial role in the game’s outcome.
The game started off fast as sophomore guard Evan Cabral, ,who recorded four steals in the game, picked the pocket of a Continentals forward and took it right down the floor for an easy two. Morgan answered right back with a layup of his own and then hit a tough fadeaway jumper in the corner. The Bombers then got a little sloppy with the ball, turning it over twice, with the Continentals cashing in on the opportunities and extending their lead to 8-2. The Bombers were able to settle about nine minutes into the game, with junior guard Cole Wissink knocking down the team’s only 3-pointer of the first half.
The Bombers’ defense stepped up, holding the Continentals scoreless for nearly four minutes. This defensive stand fueled an 8-0 run, capped by a gritty and-one finish from senior guard Aidan Holmes. At the midway point of the first half, the Bombers held a narrow 16-15 lead — one of their few advantages of the night, leading for just 36 seconds in total.
Rideout answered the Bombers’ surge with an 8-0 run of his own, propelling the Continentals to a 23-16 lead. Despite the struggles, the Bombers found a spark late in the half. A clutch and-one from junior forward Laurence Brady, an electrifying transition dunk by first-year guard/forward Chris Leysath and a pretty layup by Cabral trimmed the gap to just four.
Hamilton College went into halftime with a 39-32 lead. The difference in the first half was the ability to shoot the three-ball. Hamilton College shot five for 12 from three, while the Bombers shot just one for eight.
The second half started the exact way the Bombers had hoped. After switching from a zone to a man defense, they forced three turnovers on Hamilton’s first four possessions while senior guard Logan Wendell found the net for his second bucket of the game.
After Ithaca missed layups and two turnovers, the Continentals jumped back out to a 10-point lead as Singh drilled a corner three. Holmes kept the Bombers around, making all three free throws after drawing a foul from way downtown, then setting up Wendell with a three of his own. The defense tightened up again, getting consecutive stops that led Cabral and Wendell to find easy layups, tying the game at 48 with 13 minutes to play.
The strong duo of Morgan and Singh went on an 8-2 run, pushing the Continentals lead back to 6 with just under 10 minutes to go. Right when it looked like Hamilton might pull away, Holmes was fouled during his 3-point attempt. He made all three free throws, pulling the Bombers within just one.
Singh continued his hot shooting in the second half, knocking down two threes and giving the Continentals a five-point lead with just five and a half minutes remaining. The teams exchanged free throws, until Holmes cashed in another 3-pointer.
The Bombers trailed 66-62 with 4 minutes remaining. Morgan and Singh played spoiler in the Bombers’ comeback, both knocking down a pair of mid-range jumpers and pushing Hamilton’s lead to eight points with just under 3 minutes to go.
Holmes made a free throw, then a Wendell pull-up jumper made it a 5-point game with 90 seconds left. Wendell then drew a foul with 42 seconds on the clock and had a chance to make it a one-possession game, but a missed free throw put a pin in those plans.
Wendell and Cabral led the Bombers with 16 points each. Holmes finished with 13 points and a team-high six rebounds in the loss to the Continentals.
Looking ahead, Farid acknowledged the team’s potential and stressed the importance of maintaining a high level of effort and discipline in practice.
“We’ve got to sharpen up a few things,” Farid said. “We had some careless turnovers, and we’ve got to get back to playing more of our game. It’s more credit to Hamilton, they played a phenomenal game, but we need to get the ball moving and sharing more. We can’t rely on one-on-one play.”
The Bombers look to get back on track at 2 p.m. Jan. 4 in Ben Light Gymnasium against No. 19 Carnegie Mellon University.
