SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team gave the No. 1 team in Division III, Swarthmore College, all it could handle in a NCAA Second Round matchup inside Tarble Pavilion on Saturday night, but the Bombers wound up on the wrong end of an 86-78 decision. The loss snaps Ithaca's 12-game winning streak and finishes off the Bombers season with a 24-6 record. Swarthmore (28-1) move onto the Sweet 16 next weekend.

Swarthmore jumped out to a 15-10 lead within the opening four minutes of the contest, but the Bombers responded with a 9-3 run over the next 1:50 to go ahead, 19-18. Junior Bryan Karl connected on back-to-back 3-pointers during that stretch as he would go on to score all 16 of his points in the first half.

After a 7-0 spurt from the Garnet flipped the score to 25-19 with 12:08 remaining in the half, the Bombers rattled off 16 of the next 18 points to capture their largest lead of the night at 35-27 with 7:30 to play in the half. Sophomore Skylar Sinon, who finished the night with 21 points and 16 in the first half, hit a pair of 3-pointers during that run, while classmate Zach Warech added five points.

Swarthmore battled back to within a point at 37-36 with 3:41 to play, only to watch Sinon drop five straight points to push Ithaca's lead back out to six at 42-36 with 2:58 on the clock.

The Bombers managed to score just two points the rest of the half and Swarthmore crept back in to tie the score at 44-44 heading into intermission.

It was a back-and-forth battle for the initial nine minutes of the second half as neither team could sustain more than a five-point lead. At the 10:58 mark, senior Sebastian Alderete connected from 3-point range to give IC a 62-60 edge, but the Bombers would go scoreless for the next 4:48, which allowed Swarthmore to grab a 70-62 lead.

Sinon ended the drought at the 5:30 mark, but Swarthmore would increased its advantage to 75-64 a minute later. Over the next 2:31 of action, Sinon, Warech and Alderete all drilled 3-pointers to pull IC back to within three points at 77-74 with just under two minutes to play.

That was the closest IC could get for the remainder of the contest as Swarthmore went 5-for-6 at the free throw line and made a pair of layup to account for the final score of 86-78.

Ithaca had one of its best rebounding nights of the season, as the Bombers grabbed 45 boards, including 18 on the offensive end (13 in the first half). Swarthmore, one of the best rebounding teams in DIII, finished the night with 56 rebounds.

IC went 27-for-84 (32.1-percent) from the field and 17-for-43 (39.5%) from 3-point range. Sinon, Alderete and Karl each more four 3-pointers on the night, while Warech had three and senior Riley Thompson finished with two makes from beyond the arc.

Thompson added 11 points in the loss, while Alderete picked up a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Warech chipped in 11 points, to go along with six assists and five rebounds.

The 24 victories match the most in program history – 2008-09 team went 24-3. It also marks the fifth 20-win season for the program in the past 12 years.