ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca College men's basketball team lost in a hard-fought battle against the Vassar Brewers, 75-73, Dec. 2 in its first Liberty League game of the 2022-23 season in Ben Light Gymnasium.
 
Luka Radovich led the Bombers with 24 points, followed by 14 from Logan Wendell and 11 from Andrew Geschickter. Radovich also grabbed seven rebounds for Ithaca with Liam Spellman, Zach Warech and George Sikoryak III collecting four each.
 
The Bombers made a strong impression from the start with Radovich winning the tip, but it wasn't quite enough to hold back the Brewers, who scored the first points of the game. Vassar's lead didn't last long however thanks to a three-pointer also from Radovich.
 
The Bombers and Brewers continued to go shot-for-shot for several series down the floor, until Vassar finally broke the tie 11-9 with just over 15:30 left in the first half. Both teams went scoreless for nearly a minute before the Brewers broke the streak, but Liam Spellman followed up with a three from the left corner to close the gap to just 13-12 with just under 14 minutes on the clock.
 
Vassar quickly answered Spellman's three with one of its own, but the Bombers continued to go head-to-head with the Brewers playing tough defense, especially Spellman grabbing two boards within a minute. The two went scoreless again for almost three minutes before Jack Stern scored an easy layup for the Bombers to tie things up again, but the tie broke shortly after when Vassar went 2-for-2 from the foul line. Bryce Bleibtrey then answered with a three, giving Ithaca its first lead of the game 19-18 with 9:41 left in the first half.
 
Unfortunately, the Bombers didn't keep their lead for long when Vassar scored a back-to-back layup and three-pointer, taking the lead, 23-19, with just eight minutes on the clock. Radovich added another layup for Ithaca to tighten the gap just before taking a timeout. Andrew Geschickter went 2-for-2 from the foul line in addition to a Radovich layup to tie the game back up 25-25 with just five minutes left. Vassar drained a three on the next play, but Radovich followed up with another of his own and tying the game yet again, 28-28, now with four minutes on the clock.
 
Both teams continued to go head-to-head for the next two minutes before the Brewers called a timeout with just a two-point lead over the Bombers and two minutes left in the first. Wendell is fouled shortly after the timeout, and despite missing from the free throw line, Radovich was able to rebound and put another layup in for Ithaca to tie the game up again. The Brewers put up one last jumper with just 25 seconds left to take a 38-36 lead for the first half of play.
 
The Brewers followed fashion from the first half and scored the first basket of the game, but the Bombers were quick to respond with yet another Radovich layup. Both teams continued to compete, but Ithaca finally took a one-point lead after Wendell made two from the free throw line, putting the Bombers up 43-42 with 17 minutes left in the game.
 
After a few missed rebounds on offense for the Bombers and tough defense from the Brewers, Wendell drained a three-point shot from the top of the arch that sent a surge of energy through Ben Light Gymnasium and gave Ithaca a 46-44 lead. However, the Brewers were quick to tie things back up again.
 
Strong defense on both ends of the court made it tough for the Bombers and Brewers to score for a bit, but Warech scored a layup with exactly 13 minutes left on the clock to put Ithaca up 49-48 before taking its second timeout of the game. Unfortunately, again, the Bombers lead didn't last long. The Brewers built up a 54-49 lead over Ithaca after the Bombers missed two straight offensive opportunities.
 
The Bombers made up for missed opportunities thanks to two layups each from both Geschickter and Stern to take back the lead, 57-54, with 9:24 left in the game. As energy grew from the Bombers' bench, so did their lead. Geschickter added a third about a minute later in addition to a free throw to build Ithaca's lead up to 60-55.


However, the Brewers continued to battle and came back to tie the game at 60-60 with just under seven minutes left on the clock. Geschickter added yet another layup to put more points on the board for the Bombers. Vassar hit two from the free throw line to tighten its trail to just one point before calling a timeout with 63-62 on the scoreboard and just under five-minute left on the clock.
 
Staying on brand with the rest of the game up to this point, both teams continued to go head-to-head, only this time it was from the free throw line after a foul-filled remainder of the second half. With 3:45 left on the clock, the Bombers led 67-64 after an and-one from Radovich. Stern revived the crowd after getting fouled on a layup shortly after, putting 69-67 on the scoreboard with Ithaca on top with less than three minutes left in play.
 
The remaining minutes of the game were filled with fouls, travels, and free throws from both teams. With just over a minute left, Ithaca took a timeout while trailing 73-71 behind the Brewers after they made a short jump shot. The Bombers continued to trail until Radovich scored a layup on a rebound from Wendell to tie the game up 73-73 with just 17 seconds left in the game.
 
Despite the constant fight throughout the entire game, the Brewers came out on top after tipping the ball in off a rebound as the buzzer went off. Vassar defeated Ithaca, 75-73.
 
The Bombers will be back in Ben Light Gymnasium tomorrow, Dec. 3, against another Liberty League opponent Bard College at 4 p.m.