The Utica College men's basketball team led for all but 2:18 in route to a 72-69 victory over Empire 8 Conference rival Ithaca College on Tuesday night at the Clark Athletic Center. Four different players scored in double figures for UC and the Pioneers assisted on 20 of 30 field goals. The Pioneers defense held Ithaca to 16 points below its season average en route to snapping a three game losing streak.

The Pioneers led by as many as 16 points, 65-49, with 9:25 to go in the contest but the Bombers used a 20-6 run over the course of 7:19 to cut the UC lead to just two points with 2:06 to go in the contest.

Ithaca could not complete the comeback after missing two 3-pointers and a foul shot in the final 1:13 of play. UC senior forward Patrick Goodman sealed the three point victory after knocking down one of two free throws with 21 seconds to go in the contest.

Goodman finished the day with a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard James Patterson added 11 points and seven assists. Junior Will Abrams totaled ten points on 4-of-8 shooting and sophomore Evan Taylor added ten points off the bench. Taylor has at least ten points in all four games since joining Utica at the beginning of the second semester.

Jordan Marcus scored a game-high 22 points for the Bombers, while Phil Barera added 15 points and six rebounds. Chris Cruz-Rivas totaled ten points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in the loss.

The Pioneers improved to 6-7 overall and 1-4 in conference play after the victory on Tuesday night. Ithaca has now lost two in a row, falling to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the Empire 8.

UC returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Hartwick College for a conference contest at 4 p.m. Ithaca returns home for four games in a row starting with Alfred on Friday night at 8 p.m.

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