Senior guard Jim Bellis (Bloomfield/East Bloomfield) led the Bombers with 25 points. Senior forward Brian Andruskiewicz (Montville/Oakdale, Conn.) added 14 points and eight rebounds and senor guard Jonathan Whetstone (Palo Alto/Palo Alto, Calif.) scored 10 points and added eight rebounds.
Junior forward Ray Bryant (Manhattan Center/Utica) scored a game-high 27 points for the Pioneers -- including a 12-for-12 showing from the free-throw line. Utica, who clinched the second seed for next weekend's Empire 8 Championship Tournament, converted 19 of 22 free throws. Freshman guard Doug Herring (Poughkeepsie/Newburgh) scored 16 points; senior guard Justin Cichon (New Hartford/New Hartford) and senior forward Willie Lucas (Nazareth/Brooklyn) added 11 apiece.
Newspaper Box Score Utica vs Ithaca College 02/17/06 8 p.m. at Ben Light Gymnasium (Ithaca, N.Y.) At Ben Light Gymnasium (Ithaca, N.Y.) UTICA 77, ITHACA COLLEGE 71 UTICA (18-5, 9-3 E8) Bryant, Ray 7-12 12-12 27; Herring, Doug 6-11 2-3 16; Cichon, Justin 3-6 2-2 11; Lucas, Willie 4-8 1-3 11; Brown, Shawn 3-4 0-0 6; Munch, Dennis 2-4 0-0 4; Collier, Brian 0-2 2-2 2; Bitetto, Chris 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-48 19-22 77. ITHACA COLLEGE (11-12, 7-5 E8) Jim BELLIS 8-15 4-4 25; Brian ANDRUSKIEWICZ 6-13 2-2 14; Jonathan WHETSTONE 4-10 0-2 10; Brian JOE 3-8 0-0 8; Sean STAHN 3-7 1-3 7; Jeff BOSTIC 2-3 1-3 5; Brendan ROGERS 1-1 0-0 2; Brad CLEMENTE 0-1 0-0 0; Brian KERN 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 8-14 71. Utica......................... 27 50 - 77 Ithaca College................ 29 42 - 71 3-point goals-Utica 8-14 (Cichon, Justin 3-4; Lucas, Willie 2-2; Herring, Doug 2-4; Bryant, Ray 1-3; Collier, Brian 0-1), Ithaca College 9-24 (Jim BELLIS 5-9; Jonathan WHETSTONE 2-5; Brian JOE 2-7; Brian ANDRUSKIEWICZ 0-3). Fouled out--Utica-None, Ithaca College-None. Rebounds-Utica 26 (Bryant, Ray 8), Ithaca College 33 (Brian ANDRUSKIEWICZ 8). Assists-Utica 13 (Munch, Dennis 4), Ithaca College 13 (Jonathan WHETSTONE 8). Total fouls-Utica 12, Ithaca College 20.