DELHI, N.Y. (February 6, 2019) – The winning continued for the ACAA Tournament-bound SUNY Delhi men's basketball team Wednesday night, celebrating SUNY Delhi Athletics' Gold Night by beating Cazenovia by a 70-61 score. The Broncos picked up their eighth win in their past nine games, as well as their ninth straight home victory to jump to 13-9 on the season.
Fans flocked to Floyd L. Maines Arena Wednesday to watch the men's and women's teams take part in a doubleheader with the Wildcats. The first 500 fans received a free gold t-shirt, courtesy of the SUNY Delhi Health and Counseling Services, Student Senate, and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committtee. The Delhi campus and community took part in "SUNY's Got Your Back" volunteer effort throughout the day in Clark Field House leading up to the games, where a total of 1,937 personal care bags were filled that will be donated to local shelters, crisis centers and hospitals.
Delhi came out strong with a solid first half, entering halftime up, 43-25. The Broncos then rebounded from a slow second-half start to make the right moves down the stretch. With the Wildcats closing the gap to 61-58 with 2:30 to go, the Broncos made the next seven points as they closed the game on a 9-2 run. Ahead by five at 63-58, Carlos Ithier, who was a perfect 2-for-2 from long range for six points on the night, connected on his latter three that all but sealed the game with just over a minute to play.
Payton Dean and Justin Daoud each totaled double-doubles, with Dean logging his eighth of the year with a team-high 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Daoud with ten points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Fragale flirted with a triple-double with 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, while William Knight came off the bench to make a team-best three 3-pointers for 13 points.
The Broncos finished 35.8 percent shooting (29-for-81) and 7-of-24 from 3-point range to Caz's 32.4 percent (22-for-68) and 7-of-24, respectively. This featured a first half where Delhi logged in at 44.2 percent (19-for-43) to the visitors' 27.8 percent (10-for-36). The green and gold outrebounded the Wildcats, 57-43, and led, 40-22, in points in the paint and 23-7 in bench points.
Head coach Zack Thomsen's team's win Wednesday was their first game since receiving word that they earned the number-two seed for the ACAA Tournament, hosted by Alfred State. They will play three-seeded Pine Manor in the conference semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m. SUNY Delhi has three more regular-season contests, entering the weekend with back-to-back ACAA road matchups at Pratt on Friday and Alfred State on Saturday. They then will play College of St. Joseph in their home finale on Saturday, Feb. 16.
Thomsen's 58th career victory marked another monumental win for the fourth-year head coach. Wednesday's matchup had its origins dating back to the 2006-07 season, when Thomsen and Cazenovia head coach Justin Stern were teammates at Onondaga Community College under then head coach David Pasiak. Thomsen's and Stern's teams previously clashed two years ago, when Delhi won a 101-89 decision over Caz. In addition, Coach Thomsen's Broncos defeated his former coach Pasiak's current team in NVU Lyndon, 86-80, one month ago on Jan. 7.