ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Ithaca College men's basketball team fell behind by 15 points in the first half, but battled back, to prevail with an 83-72 victory at RIT on Saturday afternoon. Ithaca is now 7-12 overall on the year and 6-6 in the Liberty League.

RIT came out strong in the first half and established a 19-7 lead less than seven minutes into the contest. The Tigers' lead grew to 26-11 by the 11:17 mark and they held onto their double-digit lead until Alex Penders hit a 3-pointer with 6:37 left in the half to make it 30-21.

That sparked the IC offense to go on a 12-2 run and pull to within two points at 32-30 with less than three minutes to go. Following the Penders three, Nick Lemmond and Matthew Zenker drilled back-to-back attempts from beyond the arc, followed by a free throw from Zenker and a layup by Evan Cabral made the score 32-30.

RIT would hold onto its lead for the remainder of the half and went into intermission with a 36-32 advantage.

The Tigers continued to lead in the early stages of the second half, but a layup from Zenker with 15:42 on the clock gave the Bombers' their first lead of the contest at 39-38, and they never trailed again.

A 3-pointer from Laurence Brady with 6:32 to go gave IC its first double-digit edge of the game at 70-58 and RIT could only pull to within an eight-point difference for the rest of the matchup. IC's largest lead of 14 points came in the final minute on a basket from Yoav Regev to make it 83-69. RIT made a three on its next trip down the floor to account for the final score.

Zenker led IC with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, to go along with eight rebounds, while Evan Cabral finished with 12 points and three assists. Jaylon O'Neal added eight points, while David Luberoff contributed seven points with seven rebounds and Cole Wissink added five points with three steals.

The Bombers received 33 points from their bench, led by nine from Brandy and Thomas McKiernan tallied seven points and eight assists. Regev and Lemmond each notched six points.

Ithaca returns home next weekend for matchups against St. Lawrence and Clarkson on February 6-7. The Bombers will honor their seniors prior to Saturday's game against Clarkson.