CANTON, N.Y. -  The Ithaca College men's basketball led by as many as 17 points in the second half and held on for a 55-52 victory over St. Lawrence in Canton on Saturday afternoon.

Junior guard Evan Cabral led the way in scoring for Ithaca per usual, totaling 16 points with eight in each half. Junior forward Alex Penders contributed 10 points, while first-year guard Nick Lemmond scored nine of his points in the opening half. Forward Adam Dudzinski and guard Dan Anderson each led St. Lawrence with 16 points apiece.

It was a back-and-forth battle from the beginning, with St. Lawrence jumping out to an early 5-0 lead before Ithaca went on a 16-2 run of their own on the back of a trio of three-pointers. St. Lawrence cut it back to a single possession game at the 11-minute marker with a pair of Anderson triples.

The Bombers began to pull away more definitively down the stretch of the half. Ithaca more than doubled the score of St. Lawrence in the final ten minutes before halftime. Lemmond was a key part of this, contributing seven points in those ten minutes and leading the team with nine over the course of the half. Overall, Ithaca led 39-23 headed into the halftime break.

St. Lawrence kept things competitive to begin the second half. Ithaca grasped onto their double-digit lead in the early minutes, but the Saints slowly chipped away over the first ten minutes of the half, trailing just 47-37 with ten to go. Turnovers were a concern for Ithaca over this stretch, as they turned the ball over six times to just one for St. Lawrence.

A Cabral three-pointer from the left wing shifted the momentum back in Ithaca's favor briefly, but St. Lawrence followed up that three with 11 unanswered points of their own to cut the Bombers lead to two with just under five minutes remaining. The run was fueled in part by five St. Lawrence free throws as Ithaca stretched well beyond their foul limit.

The teams kept it close from there, and Ithaca brought a 55-52 lead into the last two minutes. Neither team was able to make a shot in those final minutes. The Saints had the final possession, but Dudzinski missed a jump shot and Anderson air balled the second chance buzzer beater attempt from the logo to seal the Ithaca victory.

The Bombers improved to 6-11 and 5-5 in Liberty League play with the victory. That has Ithaca sitting in the final of six spots in the Liberty League playoff picture. They'll have a chance to further improve their standing when they travel to Union and RIT next weekend.