ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team suffered its first Liberty League setback of the season on Saturday afternoon inside Ben Light Gymnasium, as the Bombers dropped a 74-65 decision to visiting Hobart College. Although IC forced 25 turnovers in the game, which led to 24 points, the Bombers only shot 33.3-percent (25-for-75) in the game, and were outrebounded by the Statesmen, 58-30.

Hobart jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the opening two minutes of action. IC finally got on the board with 16:55 left in the first half on a layup from sophomore George Sikoryak III.

The Bombers would then take a 11-7 advantage behind five points from junior Bryan Karl and a pair of baskets from senior Riley Thompson.

Hobart answered with a quick 4-0 run to knot the game back up, but IC responded with five straight to take a 16-11 edge with 8:54 to go. Thompson hit a deep 3-pointerto establish the five-point cushion. The lead would dwindle away, however, as the Statesmen ran off seven unanswered pointed to go back on top, 17-16, with just under seven minutes remaining.

The lead would change hands once again as senior Sebastian Alderete netted five points over the next two minutes to put IC back ahead by four, 21-17. By the 2:59 mark, Hobart once again regained the advantage, 24-23, and never surrendered the lead for the rest of the game.

Karl pulled the Bombers to within two points, 27-25, with just eight seconds to go, but Hobart's Dan Masino hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the Statesmen into intermission with a 30-25 cushion.

Six minutes into the second half, Hobart went ahead by 14 points, 47-33. The Statesmen added a point to their disparity midway through, 51-36, which is where the Bombers began to chip away. By the 6:49 mark, IC pulled to within 57-53 after Thompson and sophomore Skylar Sinon made five straight free throws in just six seconds.

Hobart called timeout to regroup and the stoppage worked as the Statesmen received five points from Masino to push things back out to a nine-point spread, 62-53. Masino was the difference maker all afternoon for Hobart as he scored 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range and a perfect 6-for-6 at the line. He also notched six rebounds and three assists.

IC managed to get back to within five points with just under five minutes left, but that was as close as the Bombers could get.

Thompson led IC with 13 points, while Alderete and Karl each had 10 points in the loss. Eight other players scored at least three points for the Bombers on Saturday.

Ithaca will look to get back on track next Tuesday, January 14, with a 7:30 p.m. contest against RIT inside Ben Light Gymnasium.