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Ithaca, NY -- Trailing for the majority of tonight's game, the Elmira College men's basketball team (10-12, 5-6 Empire 8) clawed their way back to pull out a 69-68 win over host Ithaca College (6-16, 1-10 Empire 8), keeping the Soaring Eagles' postseason hopes alive. 

Tyler Dibble '15 played the hero tonight as his layup with 2.5 ticks on the clock sealed the Elmira comeback, giving EC their fifth conference win of the season, Elmira's most Empire 8 wins since the 2003-04 season.  Dibble's late heroics were a result of a pair of untimely missed free throws by Ithaca College's Joe Masino with 23 seconds to play in the game which kept Elmira within one point of the Bombers, 68-67.

Elmira's Derrick Vogel '14 grabbed the rebound on the missed free throw and would get it across half court, allowing head coach Randie Torgalski to call a timeout with 13.7 seconds on the clock.  Elmira inbounded the ball in front of their bench and on the inbound play, Ithaca's attention was fixed on Elmira's Chris Cassidy '14 who had scored six of Elmira's last seven points leading up to the inbounds play. 

On the inbound, the ball would find its way to Vogel's hands where he would swing it to Cassidy who would dish it right back to Vogel.  With the Ithaca defense focused on Cassidy, Vogel gave a hard pass fake in Cassidy's direction, allowing Dibble to break free under the basket where he received a pass from Vogel, leaving Dibble with a wide open layup to win the game.  Dibble's last second layup was his 12th point of the second half, giving him a career high 14 points in tonight's game. 

Dibble was one of three Soaring Eagles in double figures, the other two being Neil Randolph '15 and Cassidy.  Randolph finished with a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds which was also a game high.  Cassidy added 14 points, 12 of those coming in the second half.  Six of Cassidy's 14 points came from the free throw line as he went a perfect 6-for-6, extending his consecutive made free throws to 35. Elmira's other two starters, Derrick Vogel '14 and Josh Keys '14, combined for 14 points as EC's starters accounted for 65 of 69 points.

Elmira held the edge in the early going of the first half, taking a 15-8 lead at the 13:22 mark.  However, a 12-0 run by the Bombers would give Ithaca a 20-15 advantage with 8:25 to play in the half.  Ithaca's lead would peak at seven as the Bombers took a 31-27 lead into the break.

The Soaring Eagles opened the second half by outscoring Ithaca 10-to-6 to tie things up at 37-37 with 14:13 to play.  From that point on, the lead would change hands 12 times with the 11th time being in favor for Ithaca at the 6:42 mark, a lead they would hold until Dibble's game-winning layup with 2.5 seconds.

Elmira will have a quick turnaround as the Soaring Eagles host Nazareth College tomorrow, February 14th.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. in Elmira's Speidel Gymnasium.  Tomorrow's game is the final regular season home contest for the Class of 2014 members.