ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team had its four-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday evening at the University of Rochester, as the Yellowjackets defeated IC, 68-63. Ithaca is now 4-2 on the season, while Rochester improves to 8-1.

It was a slow start for the Bombers on Tuesday evening, as Rochester jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the opening three minutes of action. Sophomore Skylar Sinon ended Ithaca's scoring drought with a layup at the 16:41 mark, but the Yellowjackets answered with a bucket of their own just 13 seconds later to make the score 9-2 and IC called the first timeout of the game.

Rochester continued to maintain control of the contest up until the 14:11 mark, as the Yellowjackets built a 16-4 edge, but Ithaca responded with an 18-3 run over the next eight minutes to take its first lead of the night at 22-19. During that stretch, freshman Jack Stern and Liam Spellman combined to score 13 points – seven for Stern and six for Spellman. The duo hit three 3-pointers during the run.

IC continued to find its stroke and increased the difference to 28-19 behind back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Riley Thompson to cap the run at 24-3 with 5:33 to go in the half. Rochester finally got back on the board with consecutive baskets two minutes later to halt the IC surge and pull to within five points at 28-23 with 3:45 on the clock.

The Bombers then went up by 11 points, 34-23, as Stern and senior Jake Mitchell put in three straight layups in less than a minute. After a 1-for-2 trip at the line by Stern gave IC a 35-23 edge, Thompson connected on another 3-pointer - following a UR free throw - to put the Bombers ahead by 14 points at 38-24 with 1:48 left to finish off a 10-1 run.

Rochester closed out the half with four unanswered points to send the Yellowjackets into halftime trailing, 38-28.

Thompson finished the first half with 10 points, while Stern had nine and Spellman and Mitchell each added six points.

After the sluggish start, IC went into halftime shooting 15-for-37 overall (40.5-percent) and 6-for-13 (46.2%) from 3-point range. The Bombers scored 21 points off 10 turnovers and received 18 points from their bench in the opening 20 minutes.

It was a back-and-forth battle to begin the second half and Ithaca's lead fluctuated between seven and 12 points over the opening 4:48 of action. After nearly three minutes of scoreless play on both ends of the floor, Rochester ended the drought with 12:21 remaining in the game to cut Ithaca's advantage to 48-41.

Ithaca's shooting woes continued as Mitchell ended drought at 11:41 to put IC back ahead by nine points, 50-41. The Bombers went nearly four minutes without scoring a point (15:12 to 11:41).

Rochester then climbed back to with a 50-46 difference with 9:56 left in the contest, but the Bombers had another answer, as they scored nine of the next 12 points over a 3:08 stretch to go back up by double-digits at 59-49. Mitchell netted five points during the spurt on a 3-pointer and jumper.

The Yellowjackets were resilient down the final minutes of action as they clawed back to tie things up at 63-63 with 3:07 left in regulation and regained the lead at 66-63 a minute later on a three-point play to extend their run to 17-4.

Rochester put the game away with a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to account for the final score of 68-63 and completed the closing run at 19-4.

Mitchell and Stern led IC with 13 points apiece, while Thompson and senior Sebastian Alderete each had 12 points. Alderete also added, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Stern grabbed five rebounds and Mitchell pulled down four.

IC went just 1-for-9 in the second half from distance and only went to the free throw line seven times in the game. Rochester made 21 trips to the stripe, but only made 10 attempts.

The Bombers are off until January 4 when they play Moravian at 4:30 p.m. as part of the Steel Club Classic in Bethlehem, Pa.