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Saints men's basketball holds off Bombers, 78-74

Posted 12/6/14

Four members of the St. Lawrence University scored in double-figures on Friday evening, including a double-double off the bench from Kieran Miller as the Saints earned a 78-74 win over Ithaca College …

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Saints men's basketball holds off Bombers, 78-74

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Four members of the St. Lawrence University scored in double-figures on Friday evening, including a double-double off the bench from Kieran Miller as the Saints earned a 78-74 win over Ithaca College in Canton, NY.

Miller added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Saints (3-3), while Willie Zachery (18), Brady Condlin (15) and Kyle Kobis (11) all reached double-figures in scoring. The victory for St. Lawrence is the first since December of 2007 against Ithaca, which falls to 1-4 on the year. The Bombers, who made a valiant run in the final minutes to claw back into the game, were led by Sam Bevan's 24 points and Keefe Gitto's double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds).

"I thought we played very well for 37:00 minutes tonight," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Downs. "As a young, inexperienced team, we need to learn how to close out games. With that said, I thought we had a solid performance tonight which gives us more to build on going forward."

St. Lawrence finished with a 32-22 advantage in points in the paint and shot over 40% from behind the arc (11-of-27). However, the home team struggled from the free throw stripe (11-of-19) which allowed Ithaca to make its run in the final stage of the game. The Bombers shot the ball well from the field at 41% and 36% from three, but were unable to overcome a 41-36 rebounding margin.

Kobis starred in the first half for St. Lawrence, shooting 4-of-6 including three triples to help his team out to a 42-33 halftime cushion. Riley Naclerio and Miller each had six points and held Gitto to just a 1-for-5 mark shooting in the half to contain the Bombers interior offense. Behind a 21-14 rebounding advantage and just four turnovers, St. Lawrence was able to knock down several key jumpers to stretch the lead to nine at the break. Bevan kept Ithaca in the game with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field.

The Bombers made the first run of the second half, cutting the deficit to three at 50-47, but the Saints responded in style and rattled off a 14-5 run of their own capped by a three from Marty Collins to take a 64-52 lead midway through the period. St. Lawrence looked in control thanks to a triple from Condlin with 3:30 to play, giving the Scarlet and Brown a 72-59 lead.

However, Ithaca had other ideas. The Bombers took advantage of missed one-and-one free throws by St. Lawrence and drilled back-to-back big threes by Ahmad Boyd and Joe Masino to get back into the game. With the full court press causing turnovers, Masino capped a 13-2 run in just 2:08 which made it a two-point game at 74-72 with 1:22 remaining.

Leondre Simmon delivered a pair of clutch free throws for St. Lawrence to push the lead to four in the final minute. With the advantage at three, 77-74, with under 15 seconds remaining in regulation, Masino drove the lane and kicked a pass out to the perimeter. However, no one was there for the Bombers as the ball went over half court for a turnover with7.3 seconds left. Condlin put the game away with a free throw to make it a two-possession game en route to the dramatic 78-74 win.

St. Lawrence will look to earn a non-conference weekend sweep tomorrow, Saturday, December 6 when it hosts Elmira College at 1:00pm.