GENEVA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team wound up on the wrong end of a 99-89 decision at Hobart College on Friday evening inside Bristol Gymnasium to fall to 12-5 on the season and 7-3 in Liberty League action. Hobart improves to 14-3 overall and 9-1 in league play for its eighth straight win.

It was a back-and-forth first half as the lead changed eight times after the opening 15 minutes, to go along with five ties during that same stretch. Hobart would take over the half, however, over the final 5:31, as the Statesmen closed out the stanza on a 20-7 run after trailing the Bombers, 29-27, and took a 47-36 lead into intermission.

Ithaca scored the first basket of the game on a baseline jumper by junior Peter Ezema on the Bombers' initial possession. Hobart responded with six straight over the next minute, and held onto the lead until junior Miles Herman put in a layup with 14:57 to play to give Ithaca a 13-12 advantage.

Hobart regained the lead on its ensuing trip down the floor, but the Bombers answered with back-to-back jumpers from senior Tyler Lemza and sophomore Sebastian Alderete to take a 17-14 edge with 13:14 to play.

Another bucket from Alderete just 30 seconds later staked Ithaca to its largest lead of the half at 19-15 with 12:45 left. Hobart answered with 10 of the next 11 points over a five-minute span to flip the lead in favor of the Statesmen at 25-20 with 8:54 on the clock.

The Bombers would respond with seven straight points within the next 1:22 behind two points each from senior Marc Chasin and junior Matt Flood, and a 3-pointer by freshman Bryan Karl to take a 27-25 lead.

 Hobart took control of the half from there, as the Statesmen went on a 22-11 run over the final 6:01 to take a 47-36 cushion into halftime.

Out of intermission, the Bombers netted seven unanswered points from Ezema, Alderete and sophomore Riley Thompson to close to within 47-43 within the first two minutes. Ithaca then trimmed one more point off its deficit, 55-52, on a 3-pointer by Thompson with 16:37 to play in the game, but Hobart tallied eight of the next 10 points to push its lead back out to nine at 63-54 two minutes later.

At the 10:49 point of the second half, the Statesmen reached a 68-58 advantage and held onto their double-digit lead until there was 55 seconds left in the contest.

Hobart led by as many as 17 points, 95-78, with 1:57 to play, but the Bombers used a pair of made free throws from senior Tyler Lemza and back-to-back 3-pointers by classmate Joey Flanagan to pull to within nine points in the final minute of action.

Chasin paced the Ithaca offense with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds. Alderete netted 15 points on 7-of-13 from the floor with five rebounds, while Thompson added 14 points.

Ezema chipped in eight points and five rebounds, while Flanagan had seven points. Lemza, senior Carroll Rich and freshman Cooper Macklin each scored six points in the loss.

The Bombers shot 46.1-percent in the game (35-for-76), but Hobart converted more than 50% of its attempts (37-of-73). The Statesmen also outrebounded Ithaca, 45-36.

Ithaca heads to Union College tomorrow for a 4 p.m. tip-off. The Dutchmen are coming off a 78-67 win over Skidmore and are 10-6 overall. IC defeated Union, 83-75, in the first meeting on January 5.