GENEVA, N.Y. – Senior Peter Ezema of the Ithaca College men's basketball team set the program's all-time steals record with four swipes on Saturday during the Bombers' 89-86 Liberty League setback at Hobart College inside Bristol Gym. Ithaca is now 6-5 overall this season and 2-2 in the Liberty League.

Ezema, who entered the contest tied for the school record of 179 steals with Shaka Serville (1993-97), recorded four on Saturday to move into first all-time with 183. Ezema eclipsed that mark in just his 86th career game, while Serville set the standard over 102 contests.

Ezema also finished the afternoon with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor and nine rebounds.

Junior Riley Thompson paced the IC offense with 23 points as he made 9-of-17 attempts from the field, while sophomore Bryan Karl added 15 points in 24 minutes off the bench. Karl made four 3-pointers in the game and was a perfect 3-for-3 at the free throw line.

Junior Sebastian Alderete chipped in nine points, while senior Matt Flood and eight points and freshman Skylar Sinon added seven points. Freshman George Sikoryak III netted four points to round out the scoring.

The Bombers led by as many as 11 points in the first half, which was the intermission score at 48-37. As the second half got underway, Hobart quickly tied things up at 50-50 within the opening 1:54. Ithaca went back up by five points, 55-50, to end the early Statesmen run on a jumper from Alderete and 3-pointer by Ezema.

Over the next five minutes, Ithaca increased its lead back to double digits at 70-60 with 11:31 to play, but Hobart answered with a 13-2 run up to the 7:12 mark to establish its first lead of the half at 73-72.

After a pair of ties at 76-76 and 78-78, the Statesmen scored six straight to build an 84-78 cushion with less than four minutes to go. The Bombers battled back to knot the game back up at 86-86 with 1:37 remaining.

Hobart went 1-for-2 at the line with 1:17 to play to regain the lead. IC then had three opportunities to take the lead at the other end of the floor but missed each attempt. The Statesmen ended the contest with two made free throws in the final seconds.

Ithaca shot 33-for-69 (47.8%) from the field and 12-for-32 (37.5%) from 3-point range. The Bombers assisted on 16 makes as Flood and Sinon each finished with four. Hobart was 35-for-60 (58.3%) overall and outrebounded the Bombers by a plus-14 margin (40 to 26).

The Bombers are back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at RIT.