Box Score CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team dropped its season-opener on Wednesday evening at SUNY Cortland by a tight, 70-66, outcome inside Corey Gymnasium. Although the Bombers led at the half by three points, 29-26, Cortland would outscore IC by seven points in the second half to come away with the win in what was also the Red Dragons' season-opener.

Ithaca fell behind by three points on the opening possession of the game by Cortland, but the Bombers responded with a 3-pointer by senior Marc Chasin just 1:45 into the contest, which sparked his own 10-0 run over the next two minutes.

Cortland crept back to within a 10-7 difference by the 13:57 mark, but sophomore Riley Thompson pushed Ithaca's lead back out to six with a 3-pointer on the ensuing trip down the floor.

Both teams went cold over the next two minutes, as only four points were scored, all of which by Cortland  to make the score 13-11 with 11:47 to go. The teams would then trade baskets up until the 9:03 mark of the half as Ithaca held onto a two-point lead at 20-18. During that stretch, junior Miles Herman and sophomore Sebastian Alderete scored on layups, while senior Joey Flanagan converted a three-point play.

Cortland tied the contest at 20-20 with 8:08 to go, but Alderete put the Bombers back up by one with a free throw a minute later. The Bombers maintained their slim edge until another deadlock at 25-25 with 2:39 to go, and closed out the half with baskets from Herman and senior Carroll Rich to hold a 29-26 lead heading to intermission.

Out of the break, Cortland connected on a pair of free throws, but Thompson responded with a 3-pointer just 26 seconds in to push the advantage back out to four points at 32-28.

Ithaca's lead grew to six, 34-26 on a bucket from Herman after 2:56 elapsed, but Cortland would go on a 10-0 run to take a 36-34 lead by the 15:06 mark. After ties at 36-36 and 38-38, the Bombers went back in front, albeit shortly at 42-41 on a basket by Rich with 11:11 to play. A three by Cortland erased the advantage just second later, but Thompson came right back down the floor and connected on another from range to put Ithaca back up by a point at 45-44 midway through the second half.

A layup from junior Peter Ezema and 3-pointer by freshman Bryan Karl pushed the score back out to 50-44 a minute later. Cortland cut its deficit in half with 8:18 to play, but Thompson gave Ithaca its largest lead of the night, 56-47, on back-to-back 3-pointers with just over seven minutes remaining.

From there, the Red Dragons scored 10 unanswered points over a 2:17 stretch to go back on top at 57-56. Chasin got back in the scoring column with a layup on the next possession, but the three from Cortland re-established a two-point spread at 60-58 with just over four minutes to go.

The score would remain between two and four points in favor of Cortland for the remainder of the contest as the Red Dragons would come away with the 70-66 victory. Ithaca had a chance to tie or take the lead with under a minute to play, but Cortland hit a crucial baseline jump as time was running down on the shot clock to give the Red Dragons a 66-62 lead with just 27 to play.

Thompson finished the evening with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 5-for-9 from distance. Chasin added 16 points on 7-of-13 from the floor with four rebounds.

Ezema chipped in four points with a game-high 11 rebounds, while Herman poured in eight points in his debut on 4-of-6 shooting.  Rich had six points on the night, while Flanagan tallied five.

Ithaca shot 26-of-65 (40.0 percent) overall and 8-for-26 from 3-point range. The Bombers were minus-seven at the line, as Cortland made 13 attempts to Ithaca's six, and both teams recorded 37 points and turned the ball over 10 times.

The Bombers will look to get in the win column on Friday night as they play host to SUNY Canton at 6 p.m. in Ben Light Gymnasium.