ALFRED, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team opened its 2021-22 season after more than 600 days away from the court at Alfred University and suffered a tight 75-72 loss at the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena on Friday evening. Ithaca will return to action tomorrow against Alfred State in search of its first win, while the Saxons improve to 3-0 on the season.

Despite the loss, Luka Radovich shined in his IC debut with 36 points on 13-of-23 shooting, to go along with nine rebounds. Radovich netted 26 points in the first half as he went 4-of-8 from 3-point range in the contest, accounting for the only buckets from distance for the Bombers; and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Radovich transferred to Ithaca after two seasons at Division I Fordham University.

Skylar Sinon contributed 19 points on the evening with six assists and four rebounds. Sinon was 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-6 at the line but was the only other Bomber to reach double figures in the contest.

Liam Spellman, Andrew Geschickter and Triston Wennersten each tallied four points, while Alex Barron added three points and Jack Stern scored two points.

It was a battle early on Friday night as the teams battled to a 7-7 tie after five minutes of action. The Bombers then used a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to build a 19-9 lead with 11:43 to play in the half as Radovich scored 10 during that stretch.

Alfred fought back and took a 26-25 lead with 4:36 remaining but five-straight from Radovich over the next minute-plus put the Bombers back in front, 30-26. After four consecutive points from the Saxons made the score 32-30 with less than two minutes remaining, the Bombers closed out the half on an 8-3 run to take a 40-33 advantage into intermission.

In the second half, Alfred opened with a 3-pointer and Radovich answered with a three of his own in the opening minute. From there, the Saxons went on a 14-4 run to regain the lead at 50-47 at the 15:14 mark.

Sinon put IC back on top, 51-50 with 14:29 to play on back-to-back layups, but Alfred scored less than 30 seconds later take a one-point edge. Wennersten would score on the Bombers' next possession, only to watch the Saxons come right back down the floor to take a 54-53 edge with 13:05 to go, and Alfred would hold onto the lead until 3:23 left in the game.

After a 66-62 tally, Radovich drilled a three at the 6:17 mark and then put in a layup three minutes later to give IC a 67-66 lead. Spellman then converted both at the line to extend IC's cushion to 69-66 with 2:24 remaining. Sinon netted three of the next four points of the contest to make the score 72-68 with 1:14 to go, but Alfred closed out the matchup on a 7-0 run to take the win at 75-72.

Ithaca and Alfred State tip-off at 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.