POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team overcame a slow start at Vassar College and battled its way back to a 78-69 Liberty League on Friday evening at Vassar's Athletics & Fitness Center. With the win, Ithaca is now 3-1 on the season and earned its first Liberty League victory of the year. Vassar is now 0-5 overall.

IC was led by junior Peter Ezema, who tallied 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting with six rebounds and six steals.

The Bombers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on consecutive baskets from Ezema in the opening minute, but Vassar responded with an 18-2 run up to the 13:39 mark of the first half to force Ithaca to burn a timeout.

Out of the stoppage, Vassar increased its lead to 21-6, but Ithaca chipped away at its 15-point deficit and fought all the way back to a 25-22 count with 7:28 on the clock. During the plus-12 response (16-4 run) by IC, six different Bombers contributing in the scoring column, including 3-pointers from senior Joey Flanagan and freshman Cooper Macklin. Ezema, seniors Marc Chasin and Carroll Rich, and junior Miles Herman also got in on the action.

With 3:27 to play in the first half, Macklin once again connected from distance to tie the game up at 28-28. Just 17 seconds later, junior Miles Herman put Ithaca back on top, 30-28, with a layup off an assist from Flanagan, and the Bombers would maintain that lead and went into halftime with a 36-32 advantage.

Over the final three minutes in the half, Herman notched four points and Rich added the other two on a layup.

Ezema led the Ithaca offense with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Herman added eight points and four rebounds.

The Bombers shot 15-for-34 (44.1-percent) over the opening 20 minutes, while Vassar went 12-for-23 (52.2%).

Ithaca continued to roll after intermission and built a 51-37 lead by the 12:50 mark of the second half behind five points from Macklin, a 3-pointer by junior Matt Flood, two points each from Chasin, Rich and Ezema, and a made free throw by sophomore Sebastian Alderete.

The Brewers battled back to a five-point spread at 60-55 with 8:11 to play, but IC responded with a 10-3 run over the next 2:44 to reestablish its double-digit edge at 70-58. Ezema added four of his 20 points during the stretch, while Chasin, Flood and Herman added points.

Vassar would not go down without a fight, however, as the Bombers fought back to within a 72-69 spread with just under two minutes to play, but Ithaca closed out the 78-69 victory with four straight points from Chasin and made free throws by Herman and Alderete.

Herman poured in 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field with nine rebounds, while Chasin added 11 points and eight boards. Macklin also scored 11 points for IC behind three makes from beyond the arc.

IC concluded the Liberty League contest shooting 30-for-63 (47.6%) and went 13-for-20 at the free throw line (65.0%).

The Bombers are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they head to Bard College for a 4 p.m. tip-off in Annandale-on-Hudson.