PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team nearly erased a 21-point deficit late in the second half before its comeback bid fell short as the Bombers fell to St. John Fisher College, 89-81, in an Empire 8 clash at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.  The loss moves Ithaca to 9-5 overall and evens its conference record at 3-3 while Fisher remains unbeaten in Empire 8 action at 5-0 and improves its overall mark to 11-3.

Joey Flanagan led the Bombers with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go along with four rebounds and a pair of assists.  Sam Bevan finished with 14 points of his own and five helpers while Carroll Rich poured in 12 points.  Peter Ezema and Marc Chasin each added 12 points in the loss.

Ithaca, which shot .517 (30-for-58) in the contest, took a one-point lead, 12-11, at 14:44 of the opening half after Chasin drained two of his team-high four free throws.  The modest advantage would be Ithaca's last however, as the Cardinals would open up a double-digit lead, 29-16, in just over five minutes of play courtesy of an 18-5 run.

The Bombers would cut the first half deficit to six points, 34-28, when Flanagan knocked down a long triple, but the Cardinals would continue to find their grove as the half wore on, sinking three from downtown and pushing their hold back to double-digits, 52-37, heading into intermission.

Back-to-back 3-point field goals by Fisher to open the second stanza would open up a 21-point lead for the home team, but Ithaca would battle back, using an 11-2 run that ate up over four minutes of clock to cut the Cardinals' lead to 10 points, 66-56 with 11:14 left to play.

After exchanging baskets, Ithaca would continue to push the pace, reeling off another run, this time an 8-2 spurt, to cut Fisher's edge to six points, 73-67.  Fisher would respond, however, with a quick 8-3 burst bookended by two from long range to make it 80-71.

Trailing by 11 with just under three minutes left to play, the Bombers continued to demonstrate their resiliency, chipping away at the Cardinals' hold with a 9-2 run to make it a two possession game, 83-79, but that was as close as Ithaca would get as Fisher went 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the win, 89-81.

Ithaca, which is in the midst of a six-game road trip, will return to play at 7 p.m. on Tuesday when it travels to Clinton to take on Hamilton College in a non-conference affair.