ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team put an end to their five-game losing streak on Friday evening inside Ben Light Gymnasium, as the Bombers took down visiting Clarkson University, 83-78, in a Liberty League contest. The win, which was part of PRIDE Night for the doubleheader, improves Ithaca's record to 13-9 overall and 8-7 in conference play. Clarkson falls to 9-12 and 5-9.

Junior Peter Ezema was the story of the first half for Ithaca as he scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, to go along with nine rebounds in 15 minutes of action. Ezema was also 4-for-4 at the free throw line and had two steals.

The Bombers scored the game's opening bucket on a jumper by Ezema and led for the next five minutes up until Clarkson went ahead, 9-8, with 14:56 left in the half. Ezema tallied all eight points for IC over the initial five minutes.

Ithaca and Clarkson would then trade leads five different times in a 1:03 span, before the Bombers would take the lead for good on a pair of made free throws by Riley Thompson with 13:10 remaining to make the score 16-13.

The Bombers rallied off eight more points after taking the lead to build their advantage to 24-13 midway through the half. Thompson, Ezema, freshman Bryan Karl and senior Joey Flanagan all scored during the run.

Clarkson cut its deficit down to 24-18 by the 8:52 mark, but Ithaca answered with an 11-2 spurt over the next 2:13 to establish a 15-point cushion at 35-20. After buckets from Ezema and sophomore Sebastian Alderte, junior Matt Flood drilled a transition 3-pointer to give IC an 11-point lead at 31-20. Herman and Thompson then capped off the run with back-to-back layups with 5:39 to go.

The Golden Knights once again fought back to within single digits at 35-26 with 3:40 to play, but Ithaca once again found its stroke with another 6-0 run to go back up by 15 points at 41-26 with just over two minutes left.

IC took a 43-32 advantage into halftime behind 45.9-percent shooting from the floor. The Bombers also turned 11 first half turnovers into 12 points.

In the second half, Clarkson crept back to within nine points twice within the opening 2:16. By the 14:06 mark, the Bombers expanded their lead to 20 points at 63-43 behind consecutive threes from Alderete and Thompson.

Ithaca's lead remained between 14 and 18 for the next six minutes until a Clarkson basket cut the difference to 70-58 with 8:08 left. The Bombers then scored 10 of the next 16 points to increase its lead to 80-64 with 4:32 to play. Junior Miles Herman scored four points during that stretch, while Thompson and senior Carroll Rich each made two at the free throw line.

The Golden Knights wouldn't go down without a fight, however, as they chipped away at Ithaca's lead and brought the contest back to a four-point difference with under a minute left, 82-78. Clarkson would miss its final three shots of the contest to give the Bombers an 83-78 victory.

Ezema finished the game with 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting with 14 rebounds for his 24th career double-double. Herman also notched a double-double with 12 points on an impressive 6-of-7 from the floor with 10 boards.

Thompson notched 17 points, while Alderete added 11 points. Senior Marc Chasin dished out a game-best nine assists with four points and three rebounds. Flood chipped in six points for IC.

Ithaca finished the game shooting 32-of-65 (49.2%) and assisted on 18 makes.

The Bombers welcome St. Lawrence to South Hill tomorrow for a 4 p.m. tip-off.