TROY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team had its hopes of repeating as Liberty League champions dashed on Saturday afternoon at RPI as IC fell to Vassar College, 76-74, in the semifinal round. With the loss, Ithaca finishes its season with a 17-9 record, while Vassar moves on to play Skidmore for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Saturday's semifinal was truly a tale of two halves, as Ithaca led by as many as 10 points in the first half (34-24), but Vassar closed out the period to tie things up at 35-35 by intermission. The Brewers then came out on fire in the second half and built an 18-point lead, 62-44, with 10:22 remaining in the contest. From the 4:10 mark of the first half until 10:22 left in the second, Vassar went on a 34-9 run.

IC managed to climb all the way back to within a point, 75-74, with three seconds left on the clock, but after Vassar went 1-for-2 at the line with less than two seconds remaining, Logan Wendell's halfcourt heave was no good and IC's season came to a close.

Wendell put together one of his best performances in his young career, as he tallied 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting in just 22 minutes of action off the bench. He also went 4-for-8 from 3-point range and pulled down five rebounds with two steals.

Skylar Sinon finished the afternoon with 13 points, five steals and three assists as he went 5-for-16 overall. Luka Radovich and George Sikoryak III each contributed 11 points in the loss.

Radovich added six rebounds and four assists, while Sikoryak had five assists and three boards.

Ithaca shot 27-for-65 (41.5%) from the field in the loss, and 9-for-30 from 3-point range. IC was also 9-for-16 at the line, but was outrebounded, 41-34. Vassar shot 28-for-57 (49.1%) overall and kept the Bombers in the game by missing 11 free throws.