ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team fell to 4-10 overall and 3-4 in the Liberty League with an 88-73 loss to RPI inside Ben Light Gymnasium on Friday evening. Ithaca led just once in the contest and RPI scored 62 points in the paint and shot 63.8-percent (37-of-58) from the field.

The Bombers scoring opened with a driving layup from Evan Cabral with 18:38 left in the first half to end a quick 4-0 run by RPI. The next IC basket came from Matthew Zenker with assist from Jaylon O'Neal making the score 6-5 and then David Luberoff gave the Bombers a one-point lead as he netted a layup at 17:08 left.

PI came back aggressively, netting two back-to-back 3-pointers to take the lead for good, but IC responded with a layup from O'Neal, assisted by Cabral 3:50 into the half, making the score 12-9. A deep three from Cabral at the 10:53 mark kept the Bombers within eight as the Engineers began to pull away making the score 24-16.

After RPI went on a five-point run, O'Neal and Nick Lemmond netted two threes in a row for the Bombers with 7:11 remaining in the half to pull back to within 11 points at 33-22.

Lemmond tallied yet another 3-pointer for the Bombers, making the score 35-28 with 5:28 to go in the half, but the Engineers would hold off any IC run and went into halftime with a 47-35 lead.

The Bombers came out strong to begin the second half and pulled back to within a nine-point spread at 54-45 with just under 16 minutes remaining in a three from Zenker, but a layup on the next RPI possession put the Engineers back ahead by double digits for the rest of the game.

Strong individual efforts for the Bombers came from Zenker who tallied 16 points, one assist, and one steal. O'Neal led in assists with five along with six rebounds. Cabral and O'Neal each contributed 11 points as well. Tommy McKiernan finished the night with eight points.

The Bombers play Bard tomorrow at home at 4 p.m. tomorrow to conclude a five-game homestand.