DAYTONA, Fla. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team had its seven-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday morning at the Land of Magic Tournament in Daytona, Fla., as Hiram College defeated the Bombers, 81-64. Ithaca is now 7-2 on the season and will open up Liberty League play on January 5 against Union at home.

The Bombers never led in the contest and trailed by as many as 32 points (55-23) early on in the second half, but battled back to a 13-point deficit (64-51) by the midway on the second half. The disparity was too much to overcome, however, as Hiram held on for the 17-point victory, 81-64.

Sophomore Sebastian Alderete paced Ithaca with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Classmate Riley Thompson also reached double figures with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting.

Senior Carroll Rich went 7-for-11 at the free throw line en route to nine points scored on the day, and Rich also handed out a pair of assists. Fellow senior Joey Flanagan chipped in eight points in 11 minutes of action, while senior Marc Chasin added six points.

Junior Peter Ezema pulled down nine rebounds with four points, and classmate Matt Flood contributed five points. Freshman Cooper Macklin recorded four steals in the setback, and junior Miles Herman tallied three points.

After an early 2-2 tie in the opening minute of the contest, the Terriers went on a 13-3 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to build a 10-point lead at 15-5. The Bombers responded with three consecutive 3-pointers on the offensive end from Alderete and Thompson to cut IC's deficit down to 19-14 with 12:01 remaining in the half.

Less than three minutes later, Rich made both attempts at the line to keep the contest at a five-point spread, 23-18, but Hiram answered with a 19-1 run over the next five points to make the score 42-19.

Flood put the Bombers back in the score column with a layup at the 2:12 mark, but the Terriers would score seven of the final nine points of the half to take a 49-23 advantage into intermission.

Hiram continued its hot shooting in the second half, as the Terriers netted seven unanswered points to push their lead out to 32 at 55-23.

A layup from Rich at the 14:47 mark made the score 62-32, which is where the Bombers attempted their comeback. Over the next 4:43, Ithaca outscored Hiram, 19-2, to pull to within the 64-51 disparity, but that was the closest IC could get for the remainder of the contest.

Ithaca shot 21-for-64 (32.8-percent) in the game and 9-for-28 from 3-point range, but Hiram went 28-for-57 (49.1%) overall and 8-for-17 (47.1%) from beyond the arc. Hiram also held a 47-35 edge in rebounds and notched eight blocked shots. The Bombers did, however, tally 13 steals and scored 22 points off turnovers.

After the 8 p.m. tip against Union on the 5th, Ithaca will welcome Hobart College to South Hill for a 4 p.m. contest the following afternoon.