ITHACA, N.Y. – Freshman guard Sebastian Alderete had the most prolific game of his young career, but it was not enough to help the Ithaca College men's basketball team get back on track on Saturday afternoon at Ben Light Gymnasium. Despite a career-high 26 points from the IC rookie, the Bombers fell to 1-3 in Empire 8 play with a 93-79 defeat at the hands of Nazareth College.
 
Alderete continued to flourish in his expanded role in the offense. He shot 9-of-13 from the field and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe to top 20 points for the first time in his debut season. It marked the third time over the last four contests that he has scored in double-figures after going the first 10 games of the season without marking more than nine in a game. He also added eight rebounds to narrowly miss out on his first career double-double.
 
Fellow classmate, Gabe Perez-Ronchetta, also had a fine performance on the offensive end with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, which included going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He added four rebounds, two assists, and one block in 21 minutes of action.
 
Junior guard Marc Chasin was Ithaca's other scorer to reach double-figures, going 5-of-20 from the field in finishing with 14 points. He also added six board, three assists, and a block in playing a team-high 36 minutes.
 
It was an inauspicious start for the Bombers, as the Golden Flyers raced out to an early lead courtesy of white-hot shooting from deep. After the two sides traded baskets during the opening minute, Nazareth strung together an 11-0 run to open up a 13-2 lead. Tyler Stenglein and Cody Green powered the run for the visitors, combining for all the points, which included a pair of long triples from Green on back-to-back possessions.
 
Although stunned by the early deficit, Ithaca turned to Alderete to pull back into the contest. He sparked his big first half with an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the deficit back to nine; however, the comeback did not begin in earnest until IC trailed 29-12 at the midway point of the half. The freshman guard slipped in a pair of layups on consecutive possessions with the second coming as part of another three-point play. He finished the half with a team-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
The scoring spurt closed the Bombers back within striking distance; however, the gap still ranged between three and four possessions.
 
Perez-Ronchetta and Chasin began to heat up down the stretch of the opening half. Chasin knocked down layups on consecutive possessions, while Perez-Ronchetta finished with seven points in the first half. The freshman swing-man nailed an open trey with 35-seconds remaining to pull Ithaca within nine at 43-34 heading into halftime.
 
It looked as though the momentum gained down the stretch of the opening half would help the Bombers completely erase the deficit during the opening minutes of the second stanza. An early three-pointer by Perez-Ronchetta followed by a fast-break lay-in by Alderete shaved the IC deficit to 46-41 just 1:28 into the half.
 
However, each time Ithaca pushed Nazareth had the answer. The Golden Flyers tormented IC with a red-hot mid-range game that really heated up in the second session. Nazareth shot 16-of-30 from the field after halftime, which included a 50-percent (5-for-10) mark from deep.
 
Ithaca closed the deficit within five points just under four-minutes after the Alderete layup, when sophomore guard Matt Flood drained a triple from the right corner with 14:39 to go. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Bombers could close, as they were unable to string enough stops in the defensive end to overcome the halftime deficit.
 
Flood, as well as sophomore forward Peter Ezema finished with six points. Rookie guard Riley Thompson added five points, two assists, and a team-best two steals. Sophomore reserve forward Adam Kleckner chipped in four points and four boards, while junior Carroll Rich marked three points, four rebounds, and two dimes.
 
Ithaca will look to snap its two-game slide on Tuesday, January 17, when it travels to Hoboken, N.J., for an Empire 8 showdown against Stevens Institute of Technology. Opening tip is slated for 8:00 p.m.