ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team clinched a home playoff game for the upcoming Liberty League Championship on Friday evening inside Ben Light Gymnasium, as the Bombers took down visiting Bard College, 85-63. Ithaca is now 15-9 on the season and 10-7 in the Liberty League, while Bard drops to 7-17 and 5-12.

Prior to the start of the game, head coach Jim Mullins was presented with a game ball for setting the school's all-time coaching wins mark with his 308th victory at St. Lawrence on January 12.

Ithaca got off to a hot shooting start as the Bombers began the game 12-of-15 from the floor over the opening seven minutes to build a 27-7 lead.

Senior Marc Chasin netted 12 points during that opening run, while junior added six points. Junior Matt Flood scored four points, while senior Joey Flanagan hit a 3-pointer and sophomore Riley Thompson accounted for the other basket.

By the 8:00 mark of the first half, Ithaca increased its lead to 40-16 on back-to-back layups from junior Miles Herman and another bucket from Chasin.

Bard would answer with six straight to cut the deficit to 18 points at 40-22 with 6:21 remaining, but the Bombers closed out the half with a 15-4 run to take a 55-26 lead into halftime.

Over the final six minutes of action, sophomore Sebastian Alderete and freshmen Cooper Macklin and Bryan Karl found the scoring column to aid the Bombers' run.

In the first half, Ithaca shot 61.0-percent (25-for-41) from the field as 38 of its 55 points came in the paint.

Out of intermission, the Bombers reached a 31-point disparity on their opening possession with a jumper from Ezema. Six minutes later, a layup from Herman marked the largest lead of the evening at 32 points, 67-35.

The Bombers' reserves played the final 14 minutes of the contest and tallied 18 points. Senior Tyler Lemza scored six points, while junior Adam Kleckner had four points with three rebounds. Junior James VanDeventer added a basket, while Alderete finished the night with six points. Macklin would dish out seven assists to go along with six points and Karl chipped in with four.

Chasin and Ezema led the way for IC with 16 points each, while Ezema notched his 26th career double-double with 10 boards. Herman finished the night with 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Flood added seven rebounds and six points. Thompson chipped in with four and senior Carroll Rich scored two points with three boards.

The Bombers ended the contest shooting 51.3-percent (40-for-78) and scored 60 points in the paint. IC also enjoyed 23 points off turnovers, as well as 41 points from its bench.

Ithaca concludes its regular season tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. against Vassar for Senior Day.