By Pete Chiodo
The Allegheny College men’s basketball team had a tough enough task on its hands in dealing with Ithaca College’s ankle-twisting, quick-shooting point guard Sean Burton.
The last thing the Gators needed was one of Ithaca’s forwards to go bonkers as well.
Yet that’s what went down Sunday in the championship game of the National City Tip-off Tournament at Allegheny’s Wise Center. Burton scored 23 points while Ithaca post player Jeff Bostic grabbed the tournament’s MVP award after recording 19 points, 22 rebounds, four blocks and four steals in the Bombers’ 85-63 win over the Gators.
“I thought we did an okay job against Burton,” said Gators coach Rob Clune. “He kind of got going in the second half. But (Bostic) had a hell of a game. He just disrupted everything inside.”
Ithaca improved to 6-0 with the win. Allegheny is now 2-3.
“We’ve seen that out of Jeff for four years,” said Ithaca head coach Jim Mullins. “I’m hoping these other guys kind of learn from it because next year he’s not going to be there. We’ve come to rely on him a little bit and (Sunday) he really turned things on.”
Burton — a 5-9 senior from Yorkville, N.Y.— appeared to be the more pressing concern for Allegheny after he just missed a triple-double in Ithaca’s 97-75 win over Baldwin-Wallace during the tournament’s first round on Saturday.
However, Burton was relatively quiet at the start of yesterday’s game with the Gators, hitting just 3-of-9 field goals in the first half including 1-of-5 3-point tries.
In fact, none of Ithaca’s shooters were having a very good first half, hitting 3-of-13 from the arc and 14-of-41 from the floor.
While the Bombers missed the target, Allegheny eked out an early 7-4 lead, stamped by a 3-pointer from Craig Devinney.
It was at this point, however, that the 6-foot-5 Bostic began to assert himself in the paint. And over the span of two minutes and some change, Bostic tallied three rebounds, scored two points, had one block and one steal as Ithaca embarked on an 11-0 run, taking a 15-7 lead.
Ithaca’s lead would get as big as nine points — 18-9 — with 13:35 to play.
Yet, Allegheny didn’t let Ithaca run away with it. Within minutes the Gators had hustled back into the lead, extending it to as many as four points at 27-23.
The two teams continued to battle back and fourth as the first half came to a close.
Finally, with 3.5 seconds left, Devinney converted a three-point play to send Allegheny into halftime tied with Ithaca, 34-34.
The Gators had a number of players step up big in the first half. Devinney, for example, scored a team-high 12 points.
During the Gators’ comeback, freshman forward James Ness tallied two points, three rebounds, one steal, one block and one assist during a productive eight-minute shift.
Also during the rally, Allegheny senior Doug Price sunk a 3-pointer, went back down the court and swatted away a shot by Ithaca’s Phil Barera. That block set up a 3-pointer by Charlie Jaicks at the other end, making Price a key figure in what was essentially an eight-point swing in the Gators’ favor.
“They outplayed us in the first half,” said coach Mullins. “They outhustled us. They outshot us. They wanted it more. They just outplayed us.”
The same could not be said for the second half, however. Ithaca’s Sean Burton came out of the locker room with a big, loud, ‘Hey, remember me?’
Burton made his first four shots from the floor in the second half, including three 3-pointers, giving him 11 of the Bombers’ first 15 points. This was all in the space of two-and-a-half minutes, and Ithaca now led by 11 points — 49-38.
“(Burton) is a competitor,” said Mullins. “He was second-team All-American a year ago and he’s got a lot of pride. He’s one of those kids that has the ability to take over a game if need be.”
Burton’s opening salvo ignited the rest of the Bombers, who stretched their lead as far as 19 points (63-44) with 11 minutes to play.
Allegheny, spurred by some quality minutes from freshman substitute Donte Briscoe, was able to whittle that lead down to 12 at one point.
But that’s as close as the Gators would get as Burton continued to rain in shots and Bostic locked down the post.
“We made a little run in the second half,” said Clune. “There were a couple stretches where we played pretty well. But we’d get a steal to cut the lead down and then miss the layup.
“(Ithaca) is a pretty good team,” he added. “You want to play a team like that. They show you what you need to work on. We have the pieces. We just have to get better and hopefully get some more chemistry.”
Allegheny was led on the scoreboard by Devinney who finished with 17 points. Raftis and Ness both scored nine. Raftis led the team with nine rebounds and was picked for the all-tournament team.
Also on the all-tourney team: Ithaca’s Burton, Hilbert guard Andrew Marchand and Baldwin-Wallace center Andrew Bene.
Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 ext. 275 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com.
