ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team struggled to find its rhythm on Tuesday, falling to Nazareth College, 95-60, in an Empire 8 matchup in Ben Light Gymnasium.  With the loss, Ithaca moves to 7-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference standings while the Golden Flyers even their season mark at 5-5 and improve to 1-0 in Empire 8 play.

The game was closely contested over the first 15 minutes of play as the Bombers and Golden Flyers swapped the lead seven times.  Trailing by five points, 29-24, with 5:04 left in the opening stanza, Joey Flanagan would bring the Bombers to within two after converting an old-fashioned 3-point play, but the momentum would swing back to the visitors as Nazareth strung together an 18-4 run over the final five minutes of play to go into intermission holding a 17-point lead, 47-30.

The Bombers would cut the lead to 13 points midway through the second frame on a three-point play by Marc Chasin, but that would be the last field goal Ithaca would make over the final 13 minutes as Nazareth closed out the contest on a 30-8 run to earn the win.

Peter Ezema paced the Bombers with 15 points and 13 rebounds marking his fifth double-double of the season.  Sam Bevan, Carroll Rich and Flanagan each finished with 11 points while Chasin added nine points.

The Bombers, who entered the contest having scored 120 points in their last game, were held to a season-low 60 points and shot .344 from the field.  Ithaca converted just 4-of-20 attempts from 3-point land.

Ithaca returns to the fold at 6 p.m. on Friday when it travels to Houghton to take on the Highlanders in an Empire 8 meeting.