January 4, 2008
ONEONTA, N.Y. - Jeff Bostic led a balanced scored attack with 20 points as visiting Ithaca downed Hartwick 91-76 in Empire 8 men's basketball action, Friday evening at Binder Gym.
The junior converted 9 of 13 field goal opportunities in the victory. Sean Burton added 16, while Tom Brown chipped in 15 as the Bombers improved to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in league action. The Hawks fell for the second consecutive game and dropped to 6-4 overall, 2-2 in the Empire 8.
Trailing 61-56 with 11:27, Ithaca unleashed an 18-0 run to put the game away. Louis Kail's lay-up with 10:25 left gave the Bombers the lead for good. It wasn't until the 5:09 mark when the Hawks netted their first points in a span of 6:16 on a lay-up by
Cory Carson (Gansevoort, N.Y.). IC's lead continued to grow the rest of the way and got up to as many as 18 at 91-73 with 20 seconds left.
Ithaca used a strong shooting effort as it pulled away. The Bombers connected on 35 of 59 field goal attempts (.593), including hitting 20 of 30 tries in the second half.
Hartwick trailed 38-33 at intermission and pulled within one on a jumper by
Jan Cocozziello (Scotch Plains, N.J.) with just under 15 minutes left. The junior actually scored 11 consecutive points in a 13-4 run as the Hawks grabbed their first lead since the 13:16 mark of the opening half.
The loss overshadowed the feat of Cocozziello, who scored a game-high 22 points in the loss. He became the 27th player in Hartwick College men's basketball history to reach the 1,000-career point milestone. Cocozziello nailed two free throws with 7:31 remaining in the first half to join the elite company. He now has 1,020 for his career, which ranks 25th all-time in school history entering Hartwick's next game.
A.J. Beaulieu (Chicopee, Mass.) had 17 points on the night for Hartwick, while Carson added his first double figured point total of the year with 10 against the Bombers.
Greg Bankowski (Guilderland, N.Y.) recorded his first-career double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Hartwick returns to action Saturday afternoon as 4p.m. as Elmira comes to Binder Gym.
