By MATT MASCOLO
Staff Writer
[email protected]

Over Thanksgiving break, the men’s basketball team traveled to Rochester to play in the Holiday Inn Airport Invitational. After the Gators won their first matchup against Elmira College with at a final score of 65-48, the Gators were defeated by host Rochester in the championship game 99-75.

Against Elmira, the Gators forced 16 turnovers and held their opposition to a field goal percentage of 33.3.

On the offensive end, senior James Ness went 6-8 from the field, finishing with 16 points. The Gators also had productivity from the bench from freshman David DiBernardi and sophomore Clark Tritto, who finished with eight and seven points respectively.

Aside from Ness, Devone McLeod, ’13, was the only other Gator who posted double digits, finishing the game with 10 points.

“We were able to impose our will on Elmira and play at our tempo,” said Head Coach Jim Driggs. “In our wins this season we have been able to do that, scoring in the high sixties and low seventies. Whereas in our losses we have let teams set the tempo and impose their will on us.”

Unlike Elmira, nationally-ranked Rochester knocked down key shots on Allegheny.

“The Rochester game played a bit faster than the Elmira game,” said McLeod. “It’s not our game to get into a shootout with teams.”

Allegheny managed to shoot 55 percent from the field with another efficient game. Ness went 10-13 for 20 points in only 23 minutes of play, but his scoring would not be enough to stop Rochester.

Rochester shot 11-20 from beyond the arc and finished with a field goal percentage of 62 percent.

The Gators did a better job of taking care of the ball against Rochester, with only 10 turnovers, their season low. The squad has been plagued by turnovers in their previous five games. Allegheny has had at least 15 turnovers in three of their first six games, all but one of which were losses.

“A combination of being a young team and playing against some very good teams so far this year is the reason we haven’t taken care of the ball as much as we would like to,” said Driggs.

McLeod echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“The turnovers are just early season uncomfortableness. We still have a young team,” McLeod said. “As we mature as a team our decision making will get better. In practice we do a lot of game-like action just to prepare ourselves for all situations.”

On Wednesday night, the Gators would fall once again to non-conference opponent Baldwin-Wallace at a final score of 79-61. Ness posted another impressive showing with 20 points, while McLeod and DiBernardi also scored in the double digits.

Allegheny will travel to Ohio on Saturday to take on Ohio Wesleyan. Tip-off is at 3 p.m.