ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball program prevailed in a tightly-contested game Friday evening inside Ben Light Gymnasium as the Bombers defeated Skidmore College, 77-71. With the victory, Ithaca is now 9-5 on the season and 5-2 in the Liberty League and has won five if its last six games.

IC got off to a slow start on Friday evening against Skidmore, as the Thoroughbreds jumped out to a 13-6 lead by the 11:16 mark, but the Bombers quickly got back into the contest as back-to-back 3-pointers from Triston Wennersten and Skylar Sinon cut the deficit to one point. With 9:42 to go, Wennersten tied the game at 13-13 with a free throw.

Skidmore answered with an 8-2 run up to the 7:07 mark to regain the lead at 21-15, but the Bombers regrouped and went on a 12-5 spurt over the next three-plus minutes to go back ahead, 27-26. Sinon scored six points during that run as he would go on to finish the evening with 25 points on 8-of-19 shooting with five rebounds.

Neither team could find much offense over the final 3:46 as IC and Skidmore went into intermission tied at 30-30. IC shot just 9-for-31 in the first half, while Skidmore was 10-for-22.

Skidmore continued to control the matchup for most of the second half. The Thoroughbreds led by as many as six points over the opening 14 minutes, but IC hung around and knotted the game at 57-57 with 6:24 remaining on an Alex Barron layup.

After another tie at 59-59, a Sinon jumper with 5:28 to play put Ithaca in the lead for the rest of the game. Logan Wendell followed up with a bucket less than a minute later and then Zach Warech drilled a transition 3-point to extend IC's lead to seven points at 66-59 with 4:13 on the clock.

Warech staked IC to its largest lead, 68-59, of the night after making both free throws with just over two minutes to play and Skidmore managed to only pull to within five points for the rest of the contest.

The final 11 points of the night for IC were all scored at the free throw line.

Wennersten finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Wendell added 12 points and four boards. Warech chipped in nine points and five assists, while Liam Spellman tallied five points.

After shooting just 29.3-percent in the first half, the Bombers went 14-for-35 (40%) in the second half and made 15 free throws. IC also forced 22 turnovers in the victory.

Ithaca welcomes Union College tomorrow afternoon for a 4 p.m. tip.