Potsdam, N.Y. - Lorenzo Rappa would double his previous career-best, rattling off 21 points in a career-high 35 minute outing, as the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team earned a hard-fought 86-69 win over Ithaca College, Friday evening at Alumni Gymnasium.
Clarkson improves to 7-9 overall, 2-7 in Liberty League play and will face off with RIT, tomorrow, January 24th with tip-off slated for 4 p.m. Ithaca falls to 5-11 overall, 4-5 in the league.
The Bombers got out to a quick start as the game threatened to turn against the Knights early, knocking down three threes over the opening four minutes for an early 9-3 advantage. Clarkson would find their footing and chip away at the early hole as an 8-0 run, capped off by a Matt Toscano three, put the Knights up 11-9 just three minutes later. Both teams began to trade baskets but neither would be able to put together that sought after scoring run combined with stops as the Bombers would take a 17-16 lead into the second media timeout of the contest despite a Tyson Maxam long-range connection.
Out of the break, Ithaca managed to get up by as much as 10 following a Nick Lemmond mid-range jumper but threes from Maxam and Steve DeRegis continued to keep the Knights within striking distance. That lead would be cut down to three, twice over the final minute of the half as Lorenzo Rappa and Maxam again answered buckets from the Bombers. A Matthew Zenker putback layup right before the halftime buzzer sent the Bombers into the break up 40-35.
Out of halftime, Ithaca continued to do just enough to answer the Golden Knight offense but never managed to get up by more than four over the opening three minutes. A dunk from Nate Abernethy off a feed from Lorenzo Rappa at the 16:28 mark looked to turn the momentum in favor of the Knights who would soon go up by six just two possessions later following a wing three from Lorenzo Rappa. A Layup from Evan Cabral for Ithaca brought the visitors back to within three at the 14:46 mark but that would be the closest both sides would be over the remainder of the evening.
A Toscano three and Abernethy layup quickly put Clarkson up 55-47 before the Knights would go up by nine and then ten at the 7:52 mark as Braden Burns answered a Cabral fastbreak lay-in. DeRegis would then connect on another three to make it 70-57 and another Lorenzo Rappa bucket made it 72-58 with 6:41 left on the clock.
Ithaca managed to bring it to within nine with 4:36 remaining but key possession from the Knights continued to pay off as a sharp 8-0 run saw the lead balloon to 17. A layup from Lorenzo Rappa, to cap off a stellar performance, with 34 seconds left gave Clarkson their biggest lead of the game at 86-67 before a Zenker jumper in the lane made it 86-69 where it would remain.
Shooting 57% (32-56) from the field and 41% (9-22) from three, Clarkson would also hold a slight edge in bench points (21-19) and points in the paint (44-42). The Bombers would finish with marks of 36% (28-78) from the field and 17% (5-30) from three while grabbing 26 offensive rebounds as a team and forcing 17 turnovers.
DeRegis added 16 points on 6-9 shooting as well as six boards while Abernethy (15 points, seven rebounds) and Burns (11 points, five assists, 40 minutes played) both played vital roles in the Clarkson lineup. Toscano would register a career-high 14 points on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc in 25 minutes for the Knights. Zenker led Ithaca with 19 points and nine rebounds and Cabral added 17 points and nine boards of his own in the effort.
