TROY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team will play for the Liberty League title tomorrow afternoon as the Bombers defeated No. 2 Hobart College, 80-72, in a semifinal matchup at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday, February 29. The title showdown will mark the first time in seven years in which the men's basketball program has played for an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Ithaca, which went into today's contest on a seven-game losing streak to Hobart, topped the Statesmen for the first time since 2012-13. The Bombers squared off with the nation's top 3-point defense (27.0-percent) on Saturday and finished the night 15-for-38 (39.5%) from beyond the arc. On the other end of the floor, IC boasted the nation's fifth-best 3-point defense (28.5%) and held the Statesmen to just 2-for-19 (10.5%) from distance.

Sophomore Skylar Sinon netted a game-high 36 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including 7-for-14 from 3-point, to go along with 9-of-11 at the free throw line and four assists.

Senior Sebastian Alderete logged a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while classmate Riley Thompson finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Junior Bryan Karl went 3-for-9 from 3-point range for nine points.

Hobart took a 4-2 lead to start the game, but the Bombers went on a 13-4 run over the next four minutes to build a 15-8 advantage at the 15:05 mark. Just over 30 seconds later, Sinon converted a four-point play to give the Bombers a 19-10 cushion.

With less than seven minutes to go in the half, sophomore Zach Warech made a pair of free throws  and then Karl drilled a 3-pointer to give the Bombers a 34-20 edge. The lead grew to 17 points, 42-25, after a Thompson three-ball with 3:41 to go in the half and IC would head into intermission with a 47-34 disparity.

In the second half, Hobart started things off with a 6-0 run to pull to within seven points at 47-40, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Sinon and Karl re-established Ithaca's 13-point lead at 53-40 with 15:42 on the clock.

Midway through the second half, Hobart got back to within six points at 59-53, and then trimmed off two more points with 4:50 remaining to make the score 65-62. Twelve seconds later, Sinon made three attempts at the foul line to push the difference back out to six at 68-62.

Hobart once again crept back to within five points, 72-67, with 2:10 left in the contest, but Ithaca put the game away by going 8-for-8 at the free throw line the rest of the way. Ithaca was 17-for-21 at the line on Saturday.

Ithaca and RPI split the regular season meetings this season. RPI won at IC, 72-64, on January 25, but the Bombers defeated the Engineers, 62-60, on February 9 in Troy.