ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team was dealt a tough home loss by Union College on Saturday afternoon inside Ben Light Gymnasium, as the Bombers fell to the Garnet Chargers, 89-85. The loss drops Ithaca's overall record to 11-7 and 8-3 in the Liberty League.

IC scored the first basket of the game on a layup from Jaylon O'Neal, but Union tallied the next points for a 6-2 lead. The Bombers answered with their own 6-0 run behind buckets from O'Neal, Logan Wendell and Chris Leysath to go back ahead, 8-6, with just over 15 minutes remaining in the half.

The league foes battled it out over the next six minutes as there were nine lead changes. Union then scored three straight baskets to build a 29-23 advantage with 7:25 left. IC ended the Union run with a jumper from the block by Leysath with 6:40 on the clock to make it 29-25.

The Garnet Chargers continued their hot shooting and extended their lead to 33-25 as Tanner Tedesco drilled a pair of mid-range jumpers with less than five minutes to go. With less than a minute to play in the half, Union took a 12-point edge at 41-29 and the Bombers went into the locker room down 10 points, 41-31, after a pair of free throws from Wendell.

Wendell scored 10 in the half, to go along with four rebounds and two assists.

Union shot 16-for-30 (53.3%) in the half and 5-of-12 (41.7%) from 3-point range, while IC went just 13-for-36 (36.1%) overall and 2-of-18 (11.1%) from beyond the arc.

The Bombers came out of intermission with eight straight points over the opening two minutes of action to cut their deficit to 41-39 as Leysath scored off an inbounds lob and then Aidan Holmes and Evan Cabral drilled back-to-back 3-pointers. Union ended the run with five straight points to go back up by seven at 46-39 with 17 minutes to go.

IC then pulled to within two points, 50-48, with just over 14 minutes remaining as Leysath scored four straight points in the paint. The Garnet Chargers once again responded with a 6-0 run over the next 45 seconds and then went up by 11 points at 61-50 with 12:38 remaining on back-to-back transition buckets, which forced the Bombers to call a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Union scored four quick points off an IC turnover and an empty possession to establish the largest lead of the afternoon at 65-50. A 3-pointer from Cabral got the Bombers' offense back on track, but the Garnet Chargers responded with a layup and called timeout with 9:06 left and a 67-53 lead.

Alex Penders cut IC's deficit to single digits with a corner three, 67-56, only to watch Union score four points in a matter of 23 seconds to go back up by a 15-point spread at 71-56 at the 8:19 mark. The Bombers trimmed five points off Union's lead at the free throw line within a minute to make it 71-61.

IC did not go down without a fight and pulled to within five points at 80-75 following a three from Cabral with exactly 1:00 on the clock. Wendell then connected from distance with 25 seconds to go to make it 84-80 and he hit another three with just over a second to play for an 87-85 difference, but Union iced the game with a pair of made free throws for the 89-85 final.

Wendell finished the afternoon with 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting, to go along with seven assists and five rebounds. Cabral recorded his second straight double-double with 17 points and 11 boards with five assists and five steals, while Leysath came up a rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.

O'Neal added 13 points and six rebounds, while Holmes chipped in seven points and eight rebounds. Penders scored eight points off the bench.

Ithaca remains at home next weekend to take on Skidmore on February 7 and RPI on the 8th, which is Senior Day.