ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team improved its winning streak to seven straight on Friday evening inside Ben Light Gymnasium as the Bombers defeated Vassar College, 91-70, in Liberty League action. With one regular season game remaining in the schedule, Ithaca is now 19-5 overall and 14-3 in the Liberty League.

It was a back-and-forth affair early on as the lead changed hands four times and the score was tied on two other occasions within the opening 2:12. After a jumper from senior Sebastian Alderete at the 15:57 mark gave the Bombers a 10-9, IC never relinquished the lead for the rest of the contest.

Vassar would, however, keep the difference to within five points for the next five-plus minutes until Alderete put home a layup with 9:02 remaining in the half to establish a six-point cushion at 28-22. He then followed with a 3-point to push things out to 31-22, but the Brewers responded with an 8-3 run to close to within four at 34-30 with 7:14 to go.

IC answered with five straight behind a 3-pointer from junior Bryan Karl and a pair of makes at the line by Alderete to solidify another nine-point spread at 39-30 with just over five minutes to go, and less than two minutes later, sophomore George Sikoryak III put Ithaca ahead by 10 points at 43-33.

Over the next two minutes, Vassar climbed back to within a possession at 43-41, but the Bombers ended the half with two made free throws from senior Riley Thompson and a 3-pointer from sophomore Skylar Sinon with nine seconds to go to send the Bombers into intermission with a 48-41 advantage.

Alderete scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half and began the game shooting 7-for-7 from the field. He finished the night shooting 10-for-19 overall, to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

Sinon notched 11 of his 22 points in the opening 20 minutes as he went 6-for-11 overall, including 8-for-9 at the line, with seven steals and four assists.

It was all Bombers in the second half as they outscored Vassar, 43-29, over the final 20 minutes of action to come away with the 21-point victory.

Ithaca led by as many as 7-to-12 points over the initial 9:10 of the second half, but a layup from sophomore Alex Barron at the 11:22 mark sparked a 9-0 run to give Ithaca a 72-54 edge with 8:20 left in the contest.

From there, Ithaca maintained at least a 16-point lead and closed out the game with its largest disparity of the contest at 21 points on a pair of makes at the line by sophomore Zach Warech with 32 seconds left, which resulted in the final score of 91-70.

Thompson also reached double-digits in the game as he scored 12 points, while Karl added nine points one three made 3-pointers. Barron contributed six points and four boards, while freshman Liam Spellman chipped in seven points and five rebounds.

Sikoryak added four points, four rebounds and three assists and Warech finished with six rebounds, five points and three assists.

The Bombers shot 32-for-67 (47.8-percent) from the field and 11-for-29 (37.9%) from 3-point range. IC was also 16-for-19 at the free throw line and outrebounded Vassar, 39-38.

Ithaca concludes its regular season against Bard College tomorrow at 4 p.m. for Senior Day. With an Ithaca win and a Hobart loss tomorrow, the Bombers would jump to the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Liberty League Tournament and will have a bye to the semifinals. Should Hobart defeat Skidmore tomorrow, Ithaca will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, February 25 at a time and opponent still to be determined.