ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team will begin its quest for an Empire 8 Championship and beyond beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday when the Bombers open their season at home against the University of Rochester inside Ben Light Gymnasium.

Ithaca, which is coming off a 15-13 record last season with an appearance in the ECAC Upstate New York Championship game, returns an experienced group with 10 players from last season returning to fold. 

"Our primary team goal is to get back into the Empire 8 tournament and win it to advance to the NCAA's," said head coach Jim Mullins who enters his 20th season at the helm of the program.  "We're a young team, but we're experienced with a number of guys who played significant minutes last year."

In all, Ithaca, which ranked second overall in the conference in scoring offense last season at 84.6 points per game, returns four of its top five scorers including junior Marc Chasin whose 20.8 points per game led the team and ranked second among all Empire 8 players.  Chasin, who posted the second-highest single season point total in program history with 583 last season, was named First-Team All-Conference by the Empire 8 and would go on to be selected as All-Region by D3hoops.com.  Joey Flanagan and Carroll Rich will also don the Blue and Gold for another season after breakout sophomore campaigns where they averaged 15.0 and 10.9 points per game, respectively.  Sophomore Peter Ezema will also have a significant impact on the team in 2016-17 after being named the Empire 8's Rookie of the Week four times a season ago.  A double-double machine, Ezema averaged 13.6 points and tied for first in the conference with 11.2 rebounds per contest.

"I think we'll be a fun team to watch," continued Mullins.  "We're going to play hard and I expect us to put up points in bunches."

James VanDeventer, Tyler Lemza, Aidan Fite, Brendan Till, Matt Flood and Adam Kleckner will also suit up for another season and are expected to play a role in helping Ithaca get back to the conference championship after missing out last year.

Additionally, Mullins and assistant coach Sean Burton are excited about the incoming class of freshmen players including Gabe Perez-Ronchetta who is expected to have an immediate impact.  Tim Klarmann, Riley Thompson, Evan Schumer, Sebastian Alderete and Josh Green round out the Bombers' roster.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bombers' will look to continue to pressure the ball after causing 382 turnovers last season, which was the second-most in the Empire 8.  Ithaca led the conference in steals with 233 and held opponents under 35 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. 

After battling Rochester on Tuesday night, Ithaca will host the Cortaca Classic beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 19 as Cortland takes on Purchase. Ithaca will follow at 8 p.m. against St. Joseph's College – Long Island before dueling Purchase at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Cortland. 

From there, the Bombers host on Skidmore on November 22nd before traveling east a week later to face SUNY Cortland on the road.  On December 2nd, Ithaca will travel to Canton to take on St. Lawrence and will return home on December 6 to face Wells.  Ithaca wraps up the 2016 portion of its schedule with a pair of future Liberty League opponents in Union College (December 8) and Hobart (December10).

The Bombers return from the semester break on January 3rd and open their conference schedule against Alfred at home before hitting the road for two straight Empire 8 matchups against Hartwick College on January 7 and St. John Fisher College on January 12. 

Next, Ithaca hosts Nazareth on January 14 before traveling to Hoboken, N.J. to face Stevens Institute of Technology on January 17.  Two days later, Ithaca faces Houghton on the road and Elmira on January 21. 

Ithaca will enjoy a brief two-game home stand against Utica College (January 26) before dueling Fisher again on the 28th.  The team will close out January with a game at Nazareth before concluding the season with games against Alfred, Stevens, Elmira, Hartwick, Utica and Houghton. 

What to watch for this season:

• Head coach Jim Mullins currently sits at 289-220 over 19 seasons.Mullins is just 11 wins away from becoming just the second coach in Ithaca's storied history to reach the 300-win plateau.Currently he boasts the second-most wins in program history behind only Tom Baker's 307 career victories.
• Marc Chasin enters his junior year needing only 62 points to become the program's 23rd 1,000-point scorer.Two other players have the potential to reach 1,000 points but will likely need another season to do it.Joey Flanagan sits at 486 career points while Carroll Rich has scored 498 points in two seasons.
• Peter Ezema is close to joining an elite list.Although just a sophomore, if he repeats his freshman rebounding performance, he would crack the top 10 in Ithaca history.Currently, he's just 270 boards away from doing exactly that.