Potsdam, NY – Junior Alvin Dike scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass, as Potsdam State rallied for a 93-82 victory over Ithaca College in the opening game of the Casella Waste Services North Country Tip-Off Classic Friday night at Clarkson University’s Alumni Gymnasium.
The Bears moved to 1-0 with the season-opening win, while the Bombers fell to 0-1. Ithaca will compete in the consolation game at 2:00 pm on Saturday, while Potsdam moves on to the championship game immediately following the Saturday’s first contest.
Ithaca darted out to a solid lead with numerous long-range shots, giving the Bombers an eight-point lead just eight minutes into the game. Potsdam crawled back on a few occasions, but still found itself behind by nine with 4:30 remaining in the half. Some hard-nosed rebounding and stiff defensive effort gave the Bears a 14-3 run to end the half.
Dike scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half and had five offensive boards. Damon Brown scored nine points in 10 minutes for the Bears. Dominic Scanlon led the Bombers with 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc, and Sean Burton contributed 11 points. The Bombers shot 8-for-20 for 3-pointers, while the Bears went 2-for-6, but Potsdam was 9-for-12 from the free-throw line as Ithaca made all three of its attempts from the charity stripe.
In the second half, the teams teetered back and forth for the first 15 minutes before Potsdam’s defense and dominance on the offensive glass led to some open lay ups and the 3-point field goals failed to fall for the Bombers. The Bears shot 24-for-37 from the free throw line, dwarfing the 9-for-15 effort by Ithaca.
Burton finished with a game-high 26 points for the Bombers, adding in seven assists. Sean Lahey contributed 23 points and seven rebounds for Ithaca while Scanlon finished with 14, all in the first half.
Potsdam’s scoring was a little more diverse, but Damon Brown still finished with 21 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the line. Dike added in 18 while three others, Tim Reinhardt, Anthony Williams, and Brendan Graney, all finished in double-figures.
