The Allegheny College men’s basketball team had a tough enough task on its hands in dealing with Ithaca College’s ankle-twisting, quick-shooting point guard Sean Burton.

The last thing the Gators needed was one of Ithaca’s forwards to go bonkers as well.

Yet that’s what went down Sunday in the championship game of the National City Tip-off Tournament at Allegheny’s Wise Center. Burton scored 23 points while Ithaca post player Jeff Bostic grabbed the tournament’s MVP award after recording 19 points, 22 rebounds, four blocks and four steals in the Bombers’ 85-63 win over the Gators.

“I thought we did an okay job against Burton,” said Gators coach Rob Clune. “He kind of got going in the second half. But (Bostic) had a hell of a game. He just disrupted everything inside.”

Ithaca improved to 6-0 with the win. Allegheny is now 2-3.

“We’ve seen that out of Jeff for four years,” said Ithaca head coach Jim Mullins. “I’m hoping these other guys kind of learn from it because next year he’s not going to be there. We’ve come to rely on him a little bit and (Sunday) he really turned things on.”

Burton — a 5-9 senior from Yorkville, N.Y.— appeared to be the more pressing concern for Allegheny after he just missed a triple-double in Ithaca’s 97-75 win over Baldwin-Wallace during the tournament’s first round on Saturday.

However, Burton was relatively quiet at the start of yesterday’s game with the Gators, hitting just 3-of-9 field goals in the first half including 1-of-5 3-point tries.

In fact, none of Ithaca’s shooters were having a very good first half, hitting 3-of-13 from the arc and 14-of-41 from the floor.

While the Bombers missed the target, Allegheny eked out an early 7-4 lead, stamped by a 3-pointer from Craig Devinney.

It was at this point, however, that the 6-foot-5 Bostic began to assert himself in the paint. And over the span of two minutes and some change, Bostic tallied three rebounds, scored two points, had one block and one steal as Ithaca embarked on an 11-0 run, taking a 15-7 lead.

Ithaca’s lead would get as big as nine points — 18-9 — with 13:35 to play.

Yet, Allegheny didn’t let Ithaca run away with it. Within minutes the Gators had hustled back into the lead, extending it to as many as four points at 27-23.

The two teams continued to battle back and fourth as the first half came to a close.

Finally, with 3.5 seconds left, Devinney converted a three-point play to send Allegheny into halftime tied with Ithaca, 34-34.