The Gators had a number of players step up big in the first half. Devinney, for example, scored a team-high 12 points.

During the Gators’ comeback, freshman forward James Ness tallied two points, three rebounds, one steal, one block and one assist during a productive eight-minute shift.

Also during the rally, Allegheny senior Doug Price sunk a 3-pointer, went back down the court and swatted away a shot by Ithaca’s Phil Barera. That block set up a 3-pointer by Charlie Jaicks at the other end, making Price a key figure in what was essentially an eight-point swing in the Gators’ favor.

“They outplayed us in the first half,” said coach Mullins. “They outhustled us. They outshot us. They wanted it more. They just outplayed us.”

The same could not be said for the second half, however. Ithaca’s Sean Burton came out of the locker room with a big, loud, ‘Hey, remember me?’

Burton made his first four shots from the floor in the second half, including three 3-pointers, giving him 11 of the Bombers’ first 15 points. This was all in the space of two-and-a-half minutes, and Ithaca now led by 11 points — 49-38.

“(Burton) is a competitor,” said Mullins. “He was second-team All-American a year ago and he’s got a lot of pride. He’s one of those kids that has the ability to take over a game if need be.”

Burton’s opening salvo ignited the rest of the Bombers, who stretched their lead as far as 19 points (63-44) with 11 minutes to play.

Allegheny, spurred by some quality minutes from freshman substitute Donte Briscoe, was able to whittle that lead down to 12 at one point.

But that’s as close as the Gators would get as Burton continued to rain in shots and Bostic locked down the post.

“We made a little run in the second half,” said Clune. “There were a couple stretches where we played pretty well. But we’d get a steal to cut the lead down and then miss the layup.

“(Ithaca) is a pretty good team,” he added. “You want to play a team like that. They show you what you need to work on. We have the pieces. We just have to get better and hopefully get some more chemistry.”

Allegheny was led on the scoreboard by Devinney who finished with 17 points. Raftis and Ness both scored nine. Raftis led the team with nine rebounds and was picked for the all-tournament team.

Also on the all-tourney team: Ithaca’s Burton, Hilbert guard Andrew Marchand and Baldwin-Wallace center Andrew Bene.