RENSSELAER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team suffered an 83-76 Liberty League setback at the hands of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon inside the East Campus Athletic Gymnasium. The loss is the fourth straight for Ithaca, which is now 12-8 on the season and 7-6 in the Liberty League. RPI lifts its record to 12-9 and 7-7.
Over the opening 7:44 of the contest, Ithaca fell behind the Engineers, 17-8, but a 3-pointer by sophomore
Riley Thompson on the ensuing possession sparked a 10-0 run for the Bombers to take an 18-17 lead with 10:38 remaining in the first half.
During the run, junior
Miles Herman scored six points and senior
Marc Chasin netted the other two.
From there, the lead would change hands seven different times over the next 5:13. With the score now 32-31 in favor of RPI, the Engineers would tack onto their lead and go ahead by as many as seven points, 44-37, with 2:03 to play. The Bombers responded with an 8-0 spurt to go back ahead, 45-44, with 39 seconds left, but RPI scored the final basket of the half to take a 46-45 lead into intermission.
Thompson and Chasin hit threes during the run, while senior
Carroll Rich put in a layup to account for his final basket of a 10-point half. Rich scored Ithaca's first eight points of the contest.
It was another back-and-forth affair coming out of the locker room as there were 12 lead changes during the initial 6:25. RPI took the lead for good on the final lead change by way of a 3-pointer by Tom Horvat.
The Engineers pushed their lead out to 12 points at 75-63 with 6:00 to go, and Ithaca was only able to pull to within six, 75-69, for the remainder of the contest on a three by Thompson with 2:19 left.
Thompson finished the contest with his first career double-double as he scored 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, including 4-of-12 from beyond on the arc, to go along 11 rebounds. Herman was nearly perfect from the field en route to 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting with six rebounds.
Chasin added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists in the game, while Rich finished the night with 13 points and five boards for Ithaca. Junior
Matt Flood chipped in eight points.
The Bombers shot 31-for-66 from the field (47.0-percent), while RPI was 29-for-61 (47.5%). The Engineers took control of the game with 12 made 3-pointers and were plus-seven) at the free throw line (13-to-6).
Ithaca concludes its road schedule next Tuesday with a trip to RIT at 8 p.m.
