The Ithaca College men’s basketball team fell to the Gettysburg College Bullets 92–84 in their season opener Nov. 16.
It was a tightly contested matchup between the Bombers and Bullets. The Blue and Gold finished with three players in double figures. Senior guard Riley Thompson notched 25 points, while senior forward Peter Ezema put up 18 points with four rebounds and two assists and sophomore forward Brian Karl tallied 22 points thanks to 5–10 shooting from the three-point arc.
For the Bullets, it was junior guard Nick Antolini and sophomore forward Avery Close who would score 29 points and 25 points respectively, grabbing 11 rebounds each.
Close was a key component of staving off a South Hill squad comeback late in the second half. The Bullets would relinquish their lead after the 8:25 mark just once, when Thompson hit a jump shot with 5:08 left that put the Bombers up by one. Gettysburg took back the lead for the rest of the contest after Close answered with two free throws.
Close would snatch two more rebounds to extend the Bullets’ possessions. He finished with a slam dunk off of a fast break, and sinked three more free throws to help extend the lead to eight as Gettysburg ran away with the win.
The Bombers shot a stellar 45.8 percent from beyond the arc, however were belittled at the free throw line, shooting just 55 percent compared to Gettysburg’s 86. 4 percent — who hit 15 of 18 free throws in the second half.
The Bombers will look to bounce back against Albright College at 2 p.m. Nov. 17 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to conclude the Gettysburg Tournament.
