DAYTONA, Fla. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team returned to action after an 18-day layoff as the Bombers fell to No. 5 Hamilton College, 92-77, at the Land of Magic Tournament on the campus of Embry-Riddle in Daytona, Fla. on Dec. 29. Ithaca is now 4-4 on the season, while Hamilton improves to 11-0 overall.

Ithaca fell behind early in the contest, as Hamilton jumped out to a 9-2 lead over the opening 2:30 of the game. The Bombers battled backed to take a 16-15 edge at the 12:33 mark with a 14-7 run behind a pair of 3-pointers from senior Matt Flood, six points from junior Sebastian Alderete and a bucket from sophomore Bryan Karl.

Karl then converted two free throws to increase the Bombers' lead to 18-15 with 11:42 on the clock and they held onto their advantage until the Continentals posted consecutive buckets with 8:11 to play to go back on top, 23-22. Hamilton would not relinquish the lead from that point and cruised to the 15-point victory.

Over the final eight-plus minutes of the first half, Hamilton increased its advantage to 44-34 by intermission.

Alderete scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first half as he went 4-for-8 from the field and 6-for-9 at the free throw line.

In the second stanza, IC pulled to within a nine-point difference, 56-47, on a layup from freshman Skylar Sinon with 15:10 to play, but that was the closest the Bombers would get for the remainder of the contest.

With just over six minutes to go, Hamilton pushed its advantage to 20 points at 79-59, and by the 3:41 mark, the Continentals established their largest lead of the game at 86-64.

A three-point play by freshman Kasim Cisse finalized the score at 92-77.

Flood added 16 points for IC on 6-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Junior Riley Thompson also reached double digits with 12 points on 3-of-14 from the floor to go along with three steals.

Freshman George Sikoryak III added seven points in nine minutes of action. Senior Peter Ezema pulled down eight rebounds, while sophomore Cooper Macklin chipped in five points.

The Bombers went 23-for-71 (32.4%) from the field and 4-of-10 from 3-point range. IC was nearly perfect at the line with 23-of-27 makes. Hamilton went 38-for-74 overall (51.4%), and outrebounded the Bombers, 58-33.

Ithaca concludes its trip to Florida with a 4 p.m. tip against Ursinus tomorrow afternoon.