ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team suffered a 97-74 setback on Thursday night as the Bombers fell to St. John Fisher College in an Empire 8 pairing from Ben Light Gymnasium.  With the loss, Ithaca falls to 11-9 overall and 5-6 in the conference standings while the Cardinals improved to 14-5 overall and 8-2 against Empire 8 opponents.

The Bombers, who were playing in front of their home crowd for the first time since January 12, got off to a strong start connecting on five of their first seven shots including two from distance to hold a 12-8 advantage over the Cardinals just four minutes into the game.  Ithaca added to its lead with a free throw from Peter Ezema, but Fisher would string together nine unanswered as part of a 14-3 run to take a 24-18 lead midway through the opening stanza.

Back-to-back lay-ups from Sam Bevan and Carroll Rich cut the deficit to four points but the visiting Cardinals responded with another run, this time scoring eight of the game's next 10 points to build its lead to eight, 32-24.

Fisher would open up its largest lead of the half after a 3-pointer from the corner gave the Cardinals a 10-point hold before the Bombers produced a modest 8-3 run capped by a fast break lay-up by Marc Chasin to make it 42-38. 

After trailing by five at intermission, Ithaca would find itself in a 20-point hole after the Cardinals orchestrated a 13-2 run including nine unanswered to take a 74-54 lead with 11:14 still left to play.

From there, Ithaca would cut the deficit to 15 points, but the Cardinals kept their foot on the gas eventually building a 28-point lead, 94-66.  Ithaca would regroup, scoring eight of the game's final 11 points, but the damage had been done as time ran out giving Fisher the 97-74 edge.

Chasin and Ezema led the way for Ithaca with 15 points apiece while Flanagan finished with 14 points in the loss.  Matt Flood added eight points including two 3-point field goals and Rich contributed six points in all.

As a team, Ithaca shot 29-of-62 (.468) from the field and drained 11-of-12 from the free throw line.

The Bombers return to the hardwood at 6 p.m. on Tuesday when they travel to Hoboken, N.J. to battle the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks.  Ithaca won its earlier contest with Stevens, 120-110.