ITHACA, N.Y. – Four players scored in double figures as the Ithaca College men's basketball team led wire-to-wire and defeated the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds, 89-85, on Tuesday afternoon inside Ben Light Gymnasium.  The win moved Ithaca to 3-1 overall while Skidmore, which is receiving votes in the latest d3hoops.com national poll, suffered its first loss and enters the holiday break at 3-1.

The Bombers came out of the gate quickly and hit six of their first eight shots including seven points from the reigning Empire 8 Rookie of the Week Gabe Perez-Ronchetta to take a 14-3 lead through the first five minutes of play.

Trailing by 11, the visiting Thoroughbreds used a 7-0 run over the next 2:16 to climb back into the thick of things at 14-10.  From there, both teams swapped baskets on the offensive end of the floor until Ithaca orchestrated a 9-2 run capped by a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Perez-Ronchetta to make it a 12-point game, 35-23, with 5:41 still to play in the first half.

Facing a double-digit deficit, Skidmore began to chip away with a three of its own, which sparked an 11-4 run to close out the opening stanza with Ithaca clinging to a 39-34 lead at intermission.      

Ithaca stole the momentum in the second half after back-to-back layups from Peter Ezema and Carroll Rich staked the home team to a 43-34 lead.  Skidmore would eventually cut the gap to four points with one of its 11 3-pointers in the game, but the Bombers raced back out to a double-digit advantage after two consecutive threes from Marc Chasin and Perez-Ronchetta to make it 60-49 with 13:20 to go.

Both teams continued to battle as the half progressed. Ithaca matched its largest lead of the game at 12 points, 75-63, but the Thoroughbreds pounded the ball inside to the tune of five layups over the next five minutes to make it a six-point contest.  With time running out on the comeback bid, Ithaca would ice the game at the free throw line after making 5-of-6 opportunities en route to the four-point win. 

Perez-Ronchetta led the way for Ithaca with a career-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with two rebounds, an assist and one steal.  Chasin finished with 21 points, five assists and four boards while Ezema pitched in with 20 points and 13 rebounds for his 15th career double-double.  Matt Flood contributed 12 points and was 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. 

As a team, Ithacca shot just under 50 percent from the floor (33-for-67) and knocked down nine from distance.  Ithaca controlled the glass as well and outrebounded Skidmore, 36-32.   

The Bombers are back at it at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday when they travel to Cortland to face the Red Dragons in a non-conference bout.