The Ithaca College men’s basketball team staged a late-game comeback for a 80-69 win over the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers on Feb. 11 in the Ben Light Gymnasium. The victory boosts the Bombers to a 13-8 record, and a third-place standing in the Liberty League with three games left to play.

First-year guard/forward Chris Leysath dominated the first half, ending the game with 14 points and six rebounds. The Bombers were led in scoring by sophomore guard Jaylon O’Neal, who had 22 points, three rebounds and two assists. The back court was commanded by senior guard Aidan Holmes and sophomore guard Evan Cabral with a combined seven steals and eight rebounds.

RIT took advantage of the Bombers’ slow start. Senior forward Josiah Turner fought his way into the paint for the Tigers’ first six points as the South Hill squad had trouble finding the rim. Despite their offensive struggles, the Bombers continued to move the ball and look for quality shots, never rushing or making hasty decisions.

Leysath opened the scoring for the Bombers, proceeding to make the next two field goals and a free throw. The Tigers responded with two buckets before Leysath made a three-pointer. This sequence set the tone for the rest of the first half, with the lead changing eight times.

The Tigers’ performance was a group effort. Four players scored in the double-digits, while graduate student guard Matt Caggiano found the time to drop eight assists on top of his 10 points. RIT got its largest lead of the night, 20-10, with 13:18 left in the first half. Leysath appeared to take this personally, starting another 5-0 run.

Leysath’s energy was contagious, spreading to senior guard Logan Wendell and sophomore forward Alex Penders as they each picked up a steal in back-to-back possessions, leading to two layups for O’Neal and cutting the Tigers’ lead to 20-17.

After playing from behind for their entire time on the court, the Bombers crawled their way into a 26-25 lead with 06:48 left in the first half. It was short-lived, however, because sophomore guard Brody Brown went to the free-throw line to tie it for the Tigers.

The lead continued to change hands before first-year guard Danny Cohen stole it for RIT seconds before halftime, bringing the score to 39-37. The few Tigers fans in the stands cheered at the near-buzzer beater as IC students braced themselves for the rest of the game.

Head coach Waleed Farid commended his team’s attitude in the first half.

“We responded when things got tough,” Farid said. “Multiple times throughout the game, we had some adversity, and each time we answered the bell.”

The Bombers came out of halftime fighting, but the tides didn’t start to change until Farid called for a timeout four minutes into the half.

O’Neal came out of the huddle with a field goal, bringing the score to 50-46, the Bombers’ largest lead of the night. RIT didn’t back down, scoring six in a row off of a turnover and two defensive rebounds. After three minutes of play, Farid had seen enough and took another timeout.

This time the ball started in RIT’s possession, but Wendell caught the rebound and passed it down the court, quickly regaining possession to make a clean layup. Through non-stop ball movement and domination at the rim, the Bombers took a nine point lead.

Sophomore guard Jose Padilla got his moment to shine in a brilliant sequence of plays that resulted in two three-pointers, a free throw, a rebound and a steal. He was everywhere on the court, influencing plays in ways not conveyed on a stats sheet. Always aware of the shot clock, he pressured the Tigers into making risky passes in the paint and kept the flow of the game under the Bombers’ control.

From there, it was a clear path to victory. The South Hill squad never dipped below a five-point lead throughout the final 12 minutes of the game.

Despite the win, Farid saw the team’s performance as a learning opportunity.

“Every game is going to be a battle in our league right now,” Farid said. “Every team is fighting for [a] playoff position. Every game really has a lot of meaning to it, so we can’t have games where we start slow or sluggish because we can’t keep trying to make comebacks every game. It’s a losing formula.”

The Bombers start their final stretch on the road at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 against St. Lawrence University.