ITHACA, ALFRED SWEEP SAINT MEN AT HOME

Dec. 10: Hampered by injuries, a young Saint men’s team dropped a pair of non-league games to Ithaca and Alfred despite solid performances from senior Aaron Marshall, on the home opening weekend for the 2004-05 season.

Ithaca grabbed a late lead in the Friday game and salted it away at the foul line, winning 66-58. While poor foul shooting impacted both teams, the Saints were just 13 of 31 from the line for the game. The Saints trailed by just two at the half, 34-32, but the Bombers, 3-2, opened a lead and forced the Saints to foul to get back into it.

Marshall finished with 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, a dozen of them on the defensive end. He hit eight of 19 from the field and added a blocked shot. Matt Blue was the only other Saint in double figures, finishing with 11 points and adding three assists. Rookie Tyler Shaver chipped in eight points while Keith Sullivan had five assists and three steals.

Four Ithaca players scored in double figures, led by Jesse Roth, who had 14.

Alfred improved to 5-3 on the season and took some of the fun out of the dedication of the renovated Burkman Gymnasium for the Saints, winning 79-70 on Saturday, but the Saints made a valiant comeback after trailing by as many as 23 points in the second half.

The Saints were down 48-25 with just over three minutes gone in the second half, but battled back to within four, 66-62, on a pair of Sullivan free throws with 2:47 to go. Alfred built the lead back to seven with a trio of foul shots and was able to hang on the rest of the way.

Marshall had his second straight 22 points effort and had 13 rebounds, an assist and three blocked shots in 39 minutes of action. Sullivan added 12 points and four assists while Jimmy White scored 13 points, had five rebounds and four assists and Shaver had a dozen points, hitting four of six from three point range.

Quentin Bryant led Alfred, which had four players in double figures, scoring 26 points.