The Ithaca College men’s basketball team faced the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds on Jan. 20 at Ben Light Gymnasium. The Bombers were able to win 74–60 and the deciding factor was the 3-point shooting. The Bombers were able to shoot 49 3-point shots while converting on 16 of them. On the other hand, the Thoroughbreds went 7–22 from behind the 3-point line.
Senior guard Triston Wennersten led the Bombers with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Junior guard Logan Wendell had eight points and eight assists.
The Thoroughbreds were led by senior forward Ian Bentley with 19 points and nine rebounds. First-year guard Aidan Roy had 14 points.
The game started off with the Thoroughbreds going on a 6–0 run, knocking down two 3-point shots from Roy and Bentley on their first two possessions.
However, Wendell answered back with a 3-point shot of his own off an assist from junior guard Aidan Holmes. One possession later, Holmes made a 3-point shot to make the score 8–6 with 17:19 remaining in the half. Right after that, first-year guard Evan Cabral converted on a physical and one layup.
The Thoroughbreds fired back one possession later with another 3-point shot from Bentley to make the score 13–9 with 15:43 remaining in the half.
Over three minutes later, the Bombers went on a 12–0 run with three straight 3-point shots. Two of the buckets came from senior guard Andrew Geschickter and one came from first-year guard Jaylon O’Neal to take a 23–15 lead with 8:34 remaining in the half.
The Bombers were hot from behind the arc as two minutes later they got two back-to-back threes coming from sophomore guard Cole Wissink and Holmes to make the score 29–21 with 6:05 left in the half.
With 3:48 remaining in the half, Geschickter hit his third corner 3-point shot of the game. One minute later with 2:50 remaining, junior guard Bryce Bliebtrey hit a 3-point shot. Two possessions later, Bliebtrey splashed yet another 3-point shot to make the score 38–24 with 2:12 remaining in the half. The Bombers went into the locker room confident with a 40–28 lead over the Thoroughbreds.
The deciding factor at halftime was the number of 3-point shots the Bombers were able to put up. In the half, the Bombers made 10 of 26 3-point shots, while the Thoroughbreds only made three of 12 3-point shots.
The Bombers came out of the locker room with the same amount of energy, getting a jumper from Wennerstenn and then a 3-point shot from Wendell to bring the score to 47–33 with 17:02 remaining in the game.
With 15:35 remaining in the game, the Thoroughbreds answered right back with a driving spinning layup from junior guard Jake Walsh to cut the Bombers lead to 47–37.
However, 10 seconds later, Wissink fired back with yet another 3-point shot to make the score 50–37. A few possessions later with 14:11 left in the game, Wissink hit another three resulting in a 53–40 lead.
With 13:15 remaining, Wennersten hit a 3-point shot of his own to extend the lead to 56–42. Wennersten then hit another three with 12:01 remaining to make the lead 59–42.
For the next eight minutes both teams stayed quiet offensively with the Bombers remaining dominant with a 70–51 lead with 3:50 left in the game. The Thoroughbreds continued to fight back, however, they were no match for the Bombers, who won 74–60.
Wissink simplified the Bombers’ approach and complimented their ability to shoot the three ball.
“We’re just a bunch of shooters,” Wissink said. “We just know how to shoot.”
Head coach Waleed Farid said 3-point shots are part of the team’s game plan and that they were able to take advantage of Skidmore’s lacking defense.
“That’s what we do, we just shoot threes,” Farid said. “So if a team is going to let those shots fly, we’re just going to keep letting it fly.”
Farid also added that the team got on a run from the jump, which made them comfortable playing how they wanted.
“We defended guys and were able to force misses which allowed us to get out on a run,” Farid said. “We got some open looks, and we made them early and kind of built a little cushion where we could afford to play our style of basketball.”
With the win, the Bombers record goes to 10–6 on the season. The team will next face off with the Hobart College Statesmen at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in Geneva, NY.
