POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y – The Ithaca College men's basketball team defeated Vassar College 76–72 on Friday night in their Liberty League opener. The Bombers scored 38 points in both halves, but it was an outstanding offensive effort late in the game that got the job done for the Bombers as they held off Vassar College. 

The story of the game for IC was the career performance from Aidan Holmes, who scored 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 from 3-point range. Holmes also pulled down four rebounds. His previous career-high before tonight was 13 points set earlier this season.

Logan Wendell also reached double figures in points with 12, to go along with six assists, while Evan Cabral chipped in eight points, six rebounds and four steals. Triston Wennersten added nine rebounds and seven points and Andrew Geschickter tallied seven points with three steals.

It was a tightly contested game throughout all 40 minutes as there were seven lead changes and three ties.

Cabral came out strong with the first two three points of the game. Geschickter and Holmes then chipped in with a pair of buckets early on making the score 21-18 in favor of the Bombers. 

Holmes propelled IC's lead to 29-22 off an assist from Wendell, which resulted in a made jumper with seven minutes remaining in the half. The Brewers were able to continuously fight back, closing IC's lead to two points at 36-34, but a jumper from Wennersten closed out the half at 38-34.

The Bombers were worked the Brewers on the offensive end shooting the ball 39% from the field and 6-23 from the three. Ithaca was able to create defensive stops into points throughout the whole half, while also hitting big shots at the right times in order to keep the lead.

The Bombers came out with energy after a beautiful jumper from Wendell, but it was stopped abruptly when the Brewer went on a 9-0 run taking the lead and making it 45-40. After trading points back-and-forth Vassar was able to make it a six-point lead with 11:38 left to play.
 
Holmes had a surge of energy hitting six threes down the stretch of the second half, putting Ithaca up 60-57 with 7:28 remaining in the game. Wendell also showed up confident hitting a three to put Ithaca in the lead 63-57.
 
The Bombers were able to go up eight points with 3:21 left with a basket from Cabral. Vassar was able to come back and cut the lead to 1 point with 1:35 left to play. A goof three-pointer by Holmes made the score 73-69 with one minute remaining. It was a battle to the end, with Vassar cutting the score 73-72 with :17 left to play. After putting the Bombers to the line, Geschickter put away three baskets to secure the win ending the game 76-72 in favor of the Bombers.

The Bombers were 43% from the field tonight against Vassar as IC shot 30-for-70 overall. IC also recorded 15 steals.

The Bombers move to 4-2 on the season and are now 1–0 in Liberty League play. The Bombers travel to Bard on Saturday, December 2 for a 4 p.m. tip-off.