UTICA, NY - Utica welcomed Liberty League rep Ithaca College on Wednesday night at Miga Court in a much-anticipated non-conference matchup between two strong central New York programs. The Pioneers got off to a scorching start, with Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) putting up 20 points and landing six three pointers in the first half to build a 49-40 lead for the home side at halftime. The Bombers weathered the storm though, switching from their exploitable zone to an aggressive man setup on defense, shutting down the Pioneer's sharpshooting offense. This switch, combined with the Bombers late three point barrage, saw the visitors claw back and take their first lead with just three minutes left in the match, eventually taking a shocking 82-78 victory over the Pioneers to end the night.
 
Wednesday night's matchup began at a breakneck pace, with the Pioneers putting up 27 points before the midway point of the first half. Utica, on pace for 108 points through the first fourth of the matchup, got out to an early cushion thanks to Hagan Foley, with the Senior Forward letting loose a barrage of three pointers in the early going. Foley continued to push the idea that he may be the Pioneers most deadly shooter, sinking six long balls and pouring in 20 points in just the first half alone. Foley went 6-for-8 from three in the first half, propelling the Pioneers to a 49-40 lead at halftime.
 
It was the Bombers though, who flipped the label in the second half, rattling home seven three pointers and holding the Pioneers to zero second half three pointers in their comeback effort. Ithaca finished the game with 14 three pointers, raining lethal strikes from deep to keep up with the Pioneers potent pace.
 
Ithaca improved to 3-1 on the season, and the Pioneers picked up their first loss, falling to 4-1.
 
The two team's stats were nearly identical in Wednesday's contest, with the teams finishing neck-and-neck in field goals (IC 25, UU 26), field goal percentage (IC 46.3%, UU 46.4%), free throws made (18 all), rebounds (IC 30, UU 29), and turnovers (IC 11, UU 12). One of the only areas where the teams differed was the volume of threes made, as Ithaca made six more long balls despite holding a less than two percent edge in three point percentage.
 
Foley finished with a game-high 24 points, shooting 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. No other player finished with above 20 points, meaning that Foley's first half numbers alone would have been enough to leave him as the game's leading scorer.
 
Damian Call finished as the contest's second leading scorer, procuring 18 points to go along with five assists and five rebounds. Call was also perfect from the charity stripe, nailing all eight of his free throw attempts.
 
Seidina Doukoure (Bronx, NY/The Macduffie School) nearly had himself another double-double, finishing one basket shy of the mark with eight points and ten rebounds.
 
Daiyon Thompson was the only other Pioneer to put up double digits, notching 11 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists on a pair of beautiful alley-oop connections with Call.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Game Summary: Foley got going fast, landing his first three-ball to give the hosts a 5-0 lead in the first few minutes. Spina also took advantage of an adjusting Bombers defense in the first few minutes, logging five quick points off of a couple hard rim-runs and an and-1.
 
Ithaca managed to hang around in the initial stages of the matchup due to their ability to get to the line, with the Bombers trimming a Spina-produced 12-6 lead to just a three point gap at 14-11 about five minutes into the matchup.
 
That's when the first half Foley show began.
 
Foley landed three critical strikes on the Bombers, hitting three-straight long balls over a two minute span to extend the Utica lead to 23-16.
 
A few minutes later, with a similar seven point cushion at 28-21 in favor of the Pioneers, Foley ensured lightning would strike twice, a couple more times even, as the Senior sank two more straight threes to give the Pioneers their largest lead up to that point at 34-21.
 
With the Bomber defense exhausting a no-help clause in an attempt to slow down Foley, Doukoure came alive, with the Pioneer newcomer occupying the newfound space in the lane to snare multiple offense rebounds. Doukoure had five offensive rebounds in the first half alone, creating a lethal one-two punch with Foley as the Bombers were forced to pick their poison during the final stages of the first half.
 
With about three minutes left in the first half, a Teague three-pointer and a pair of Call free throws gave the Pioneers their biggest lead of the first half at 45-30. Two more shots at the line from Call, as well as a floater in the lane from Foley kept the Bombers at an arm's length.
 
With less than a minute left in the opening 20, and facing a 49-34 deficit, the Bombers hit two clutch threes to bring the game to 49-40 in favor of Utica at the halftime buzzer, an early sign of the havoc Ithaca would soon rain down from beyond the arc.
 
As the second half got underway, the Pioneers slowed the game down, getting organized on offense.
 
Thompson engineered the Pioneers offensive sets on the first two possessions of the second half, producing an up-and-under basket, followed by a highlight reel alley-oop connection with Call to notch the first four points of the half.
 
Doukoure, the Pioneers most accurate scorer in the post, continued to own the paint with an and-1, pushing the lead to 16 points at 56-40 only moments into the half.
 
Ithaca battled back, finding four points in an attempt to get the back back within single digits. However, another two-basket volley from Call and Thompson restored the Pioneers 16-point advantage and forced a Bombers timeout.
 
After a few empty possessions from each team, the Bombers' offense became possessed, landing four three-pointers in under a three minute stretch to plunge the Pioneers into a precarious situation, with the visitors suddenly trailing by only four points.
 
The Pioneers dug in, forcing three straight turnovers off of two steals and a charge drawn on the Bombers' offense by Spina, but only found one score off of their three takeaways.
 
Another Ithaca three sent the game to crunchtime, as Utica held a 66-63 lead with under seven minutes remaining in the contest.
 
The two teams went back and forth over the next few minutes, albeit with Ithaca inching closer and closer to taking the lead. The Bombers eventually went ahead for the first time since the opening tip, landing three free throws with just under three minutes remaining to take a 73-72 lead.
 
Ithaca then hit another three, their seventh of the second half, to increase the gap to four. The Bombers took away any looks at a Pioneer longshot, forcing the hosts to get back into the matchup from inside the arc. The trio of Foley, Thompson, and Call kept the Pioneers neck-and-neck with the Bombers, with each player recording notching two-point possessions to keep the game within one score as the clock ticked down.
 
Ithaca made their free throws down the stretch, keeping just ahead of the Pioneers and holding an 80-78 lead with just a few ticks left on the clock. With eight seconds left, the Pioneers turned the ball over on the crucial final possession, sending them to an 82-78 defeat and their first loss of the season.