ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team opened up the New Year and Empire 8 conference play with a 118-79 loss to Alfred on Tuesday evening inside Ben Light Gymnasium.  With the loss, Ithaca fell to 4-6 overall and 0-1 in the conference standings while the Saxons improved to 4-6 and 1-0.

Sebastian Alderete led the Bombers with a career-high 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting.  The freshman also chipped in five boards.  Gabe Perez-Ronchetta added 16 points while Marc Chasin finished with 12 points, five boards and two steals. 

The Bombers came out firing in the opening minutes with Matt Flood knocking down a corner 3-pointer to stake the Bombers to an early edge, but their lead would last for just 61 seconds, however, as the Saxons connected on three consecutive shots from behind the arc to jump out to an 11-5 lead.

Both teams swapped buckets inside the paint over the next two minutes, but Alfred continued to move the ball on the offensive end and grew its lead a 15, 26-11, after scoring 13 of the game's next 15 points.  The Saxons, who connected on 25-of-35 shots (.714) in the first half including seven 3-pointers, didn't let up as the half wore on and eventually built their lead to 27 points, 62-35, heading into halftime.   

The second half featured much of the same as Alfred's hot hand carried over.  The visitors would put the game out of reach with a 10-0 run early on and the Bombers were unable to come up with timely stops on the defensive end. 

The Saxons finished the game with 42 made field goals and shot over 60 percent from the floor including .519 from behind the arc on 14-of-27 attempts. 

The Bombers look to bounce back when they travel to Oneonta at 4 p.m. on Saturday to take on Hartwick College in another Empire 8 conference matchup.