ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Coming off a hard-fought home loss to conference-leading St. John Fisher over the weekend, the Ithaca College men's basketball team hoped to finally get over the hump and snap a three-game slide when it hit the road to face Nazareth College on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, a big second half by the Golden Flyers pushed the home side to an 88-78 victory, dropping the Bombers to 6-13 on the year and 2-8 within Empire 8 play.
 
Leading the way for Ithaca was the impressive performance of sophomore forward Adam Kleckner. Seeing increased minutes over the past few contests, the second-year big man made the most of his opportunity, scoring a career-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 at the charity stripe. Kleckner also added three rebounds and one block, all coming in 11 action-packed minutes.
 
Sophomore forward Peter Ezema also chipped in a strong performance, notching a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes. Rookie swing-man Sebastian Alderete added 13 points and seven boards, while junior point guard Carroll Rich poured in 10 points and swiped a pair of steals.
 
It looked as though IC might add a third road E8 victory when it closed the first half on a strong note to take a 37-35 lead to the halftime break.
 
Trailing by as much as nine points at 23-14 with 10:24 remaining, the Bombers battled back with some excellent two-way play. Junior guard Marc Chasin sparked an 8-0 run with a deep three-pointer, while Ezema scored the next five on a pair of layups, the second of which becoming part of a three-point play.
 
The Bombers remained a possession off the pace during the next few exchanges, before ultimately pulling ahead as the halftime horn approached. Ithaca closed the half with a 10-5 run over the final 3:39 to take the two-point edge to the locker room.
 
Alderete gave Ithaca its first lead of the day with a triple with 2:24 left. Kleckner made the score 34-32 with 1:34 left in the opening stanza, while Rich picked up a bucket-plus-the-foul on the ensuing offensive possession.
 
Sophomore shooting-guard Matt Flood helped IC maintain the narrow edge with five early points during the second half. He knocked down two free throws to break a 37-all deadlock, while he nailed a corner trey two possessions later to end a 39-39 stalemate. Flood finished with eight points and two rebounds in the contest.
 
Unfortunately, the 42-39 lead was the last time the Bombers held the lead in the contest. The Golden Flyers strung together a 9-0 run over a 52-second span to retake a 48-42 edge on the scoreboard with 15:52 left in the game.
 
IC hung within three possessions during the middle portion of the half, twice cutting the deficit to as small as five points at 53-48 and 55-50; however, the Bombers were unable to put together enough stops to pull any closer. Nazareth shot 58.52-percent (20-for-34) during the second session to put up 53 points after halftime.
 
The Golden Flyers began to pull away from striking distance with just under eight minutes remaining. Leading 66-59, Nazareth outscored Ithaca 10-3 over a 1:47 span to widen the gap to 13 points at 76-63 with 6:06 remaining. IC twice closed back within 10 points, but it was too late with the Golden Flyers holding on to win by 10.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Friday, February 3, when it again hits the road for an 8:00 p.m. tilt at Alfred University.