SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.—Ithaca College scored 36 points from the free throw line in a 90-84 non-league men's basketball in over Skidmore College, Saturday at the Williamson Center.
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It was the season opener for both teams.
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The Bombers hit 36 of 46 free throw attempts, while the Thoroughbreds were 18-27 in a game that saw 60 combined fouls.
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Aldin Medunjanin led four Skidmore players in double figures with 21 points.
Royce Paris had 14 and rookie
Edvinas Rupkus added 14 points.
Erik Sanders had a double/double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
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Sanders hit the 1000 point career mark with the game's first three-pointer. He has 826 points at Skidmore on top of 184 he scored his freshman year at Bloomfield for a 1010 total.
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Marc Chasin topped Ithaca with 22 points, going 12-15 from the line. Joey Flanagan was a perfect 16-16 from the line and finished with 20 points.
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The Thoroughbreds led early 27-16 at the 9:34 mark of the first half, but the Bombers closed the half with a 26-8 run to take a 42-35 lead into the break.
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Ithaca increased the lead to 19, 71-52 with 8:55 to play, but Skidmore battled back to within three 81-78 with 2:05 left. Â After a pair of made free throws by Chasin, Medunjanin cut the lead to two with a tradition three-point play. He drove through traffic to connect on a tough lay-up and the ensuing free throw to make it 83-81 with :58 left. Â
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The Bombers hit seven of their final eight free throws over the final minute for the 90-84 final.
"Tough loss today," said Skidmore coach
Joe Burke. "I was proud of how we continued to fight. Despite everything we gave ourselves a chance to win at the end but it was not to be.
"We need to get back to work and get better. Â The game is clearly changing and we need to figure out how to play our style of defense and not put the opponent on the line 46 times. Â Hard to overcome that but we will figure it out."
Skidmore is at Castleton University on Nov. 17 for a 7 p.m. tip.
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