ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team withstood a late second half rally from visiting RPI on Friday evening inside Ben Light Gymnasium and came away with a 75-69 Liberty League victory to improve to 11-4 overall and 6-2 in league play. The loss for RPI drops the Engineers to 8-7 overall and 3-5 in the Liberty League.

Sophomore Riley Thompson paced the Bombers offense with 24 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range and 8-of-10 at the free throw line. All eight of Thompson's made free throws came over the final 1:27 of regulation.

Senior Marc Chasin narrowly missed out on his first career triple-double with 10 assists, seven points and seven rebounds, while junior Peter Ezema was a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points (5-of-8) and nine boards.

Freshman Bryan Karl poured in 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from distance. Sophomore Sebastian Alderete added nine points, while junior Miles Herman chipped in seven points and six rebounds.

The Bombers got off to a slow start in the contest, as they were only able to score two points over the opening four minutes of play. Trailing by a 4-2 score with 16:02 on the clock, junior Matt Flood drilled a 3-pointer to put Ithaca on top, 5-4, and the Bombers would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the evening.

After an Ezema layup, RPI tied the game at 7-7 with a 3-pointer, but Thompson answered with a three-ball of his own on the ensuing possession to put the Bombers back up by a 10-7 count with 14:29 left in the first half.

The Bombers pushed their lead out to eight points at 23-15 on a 3-pointer by Karl midway through the opening stanza, but RPI would battle back to a three-point spread, 26-23 with 6:21 to play.

Ezema would score six of the Bombers' next eight points over a two-minute stretch to give IC a 34-25 cushion with just four minutes to go.

After a cold spell that lasted more than two minutes for both teams, Alderete connected from range to establish Ithaca's first double-digit lead of the night at 37-25. Karl capped off the first half for the Bombers with a layup in the final minute to give Ithaca a 39-25 advantage heading into intermission.

Out of the break, Thompson put Ithaca up by its largest margin of the evening, 42-25, just eight into the second half.

The Engineers answered with a 15-4 run over the next six minutes of action to pull to within 46-40, but Ithaca quickly went back up by 11 points at 53-42 with 12:42 left behind baskets from Ezema and Chasin, and a 3-pointer from Karl.

With 8:54 to play in the contest, senior Joey Flanagan scored his lone basket of the night to make the disparity, 59-47.

Over the next five minutes, RPI outscored the Bombers, 14-3, and pulled to within a point at 62-61. Thompson made a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, and after a defensive stop, Chasin laid one in to push the lead back out to six points.

From there, Ithaca salted the game away at the free throw line, as Thompson would go 8-for-10 at the stripe.

Ithaca shot 45.0-percent from the field (27-for-60) and went 9-for-19 (47.4%) from beyond the arc. The Bombers also pulled down 41 rebounds. RPI was 28-for-70 overall (40.0%) and 7-for-30 (23.3%) from distance.

IC is back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. against Skidmore, in what will be a battle for second place in the Liberty League standings. Skidmore dropped a 63-58 decision at Bard tonight to fall to 5-3 in league play.