The Ithaca College men’s basketball team has had to navigate through adversity early on in the season as several key rotational pieces have been sidelined with injuries. However, led by the emergence of first-year forward Chris Leysath, the Bombers find themselves with a 9–5 record and are 6–1 in Liberty League competition.
When the season began, the Bombers only had nine healthy players. Sophomore forward Alex Penders, who was sidelined with a mid-ankle sprain, said this was the first time in his basketball career where he saw a team not have enough healthy players to play five-on-five scrimmages in practice.
He said everyone on the team was stepping up to play roles both on and off the court.
“I think everybody kind of rallied behind the guys that were playing and that was something that I wasn’t surprised by one bit just because of the culture we have,” Penders said.
Penders and sophomore center David Luberoff were expected to be two of the key interior players this season for the Bombers. With the two of them out, Leysath was thrust into a starting role to begin his collegiate career. However, he said he could not have done this without Penders and Luberoff’s support.
“They helped me a lot with learning all the new roles, all the new plays and how to actually turn my game more into a college type,” Leysath said.
Leysath had his coming out party Nov. 13 at home against rivals SUNY Cortland. He dropped career highs in points and rebounds with 16 and 13 and anchored the South Hill squad on the defensive end en route to a 64–58 victory.
The high emotions of a rivalry game did not deter Leysath as he said the only thing on his mind that night was winning.
“I kind of blacked out … like I got into some type of mode and I really wanted to win,” Leysath said. “The stats that I had was just a side piece to it, the win was really what I wanted.”
Leysath’s performance helped him win Liberty League Rookie of the Week for the week of Nov. 18, his first of three selections.
Head coach Waleed Farid said Leysath possesses the tools of a collegiate basketball player. He said Leysath’s ability to pass the ball, his high basketball IQ and relentless work ethic leave Farid to believe that the young star is just scratching the surface of his production as a Bomber.
“The team needed more than what we thought we were going to need from him and he stepped up to the challenge,” Farid said. “He’s accepted his role as someone who’s got to anchor our defense and be a presence down low and create in our offense.”
Farid said the early season injuries led him and the other coaches to be more creative with practices. They focused more on mental preparation by studying film and kept the drills more intense but lower in duration.
He said he could not be more proud of how hard his players worked to get back from injury. He said every single one of them gave their rehab their all and would still show up to practice and lifts everyday doing what they could and bringing positive energy to the team.
“I think that did give energy to our guys that were out on the court because when you’re seeing guys who could be taking a day off or could be slacking and they’re not, I think that keeps you fired up,” Farid said.
Penders said that while injured he took the time to improve his vocal leadership while also ensuring he was prioritizing his own rehab. He said he would work with the athletic trainers once in between his classes and then again after practice for upwards of an hour a day total.
“It made sure that I continued to keep a positive mindset to the point where I was like, ‘OK, I will be back on the basketball court in a few weeks,’” Penders said.
This mindset paid off as Penders said his season debut against Vassar College on Dec. 6 was actually a couple weeks ahead of schedule. Penders dropped a season high 11 points the following game against Bard College where he drained three 3-point shots in a key conference victory.
As the Bombers enter a critical stretch of Liberty League competition, they are ready to rebound from last year’s late season struggles. Leysath said the entire team has bought in to winning the Liberty League and returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2019–20 season.
“We’re super excited, we have a lot of teams on that list that I know personally we owe from last year and I think that a lot of us are bringing that chip on our shoulders,” Penders said.
Farid said he believes that at the end of the day, the adversity his squad faced early in the season will help prepare them for the grueling home stretch. He said everyone on the team is game ready and the way the team overcame some tough key injuries helped to verify what he believed to be the team’s biggest strength: its depth.
“We know there’s going to be some close games throughout,” Farid said. “We just got to continue to get better. We got to continue our level of discipline, especially in tight games, being able to focus on one possession at a time, focus on a timeout, focus on the execution whether it’s defense or offense.”
