GENEVA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's basketball team trailed Hobart College by five points with under a minute left in regulation, but Logan Wendell scored IC's final seven points of the contest to send the Bombers to a 75-74 victory at Bristol Gym on Saturday evening. The Bombers, who capped off a perfect 3-0 week to improve to 7-4 on the season, have now won four straight contests against Hobart after the Statesmen won 13 in a row from 2013 to 2020.

It was a tightly contested matchup all evening as there were 14 lead changes and six ties. IC shot 44.6% (29-for-65) from the field, while Hobart went 29-for-61 (47.5%), but it came down to the free throw line as Ithaca was 9-for-10, including nine straight makes in the second half and Hobart was just 10-for-19 with three misses over the final 1:43 of action.

Ithaca jumped out to a 5-2 lead to start the game after a 3-pointer from Luka Radovich and a bucket from Liam Spellman, but after a 5-5 tie, Hobart controlled the first half and went into intermission with a 40-35 lead. IC would hold four different leads during the final 15-plus minutes of the half, but never by more than a point.

The Statesmen led for more than 18 minutes of the second half and were up by as many as seven points at 52-45 with 12:46 to go. Ithaca would tie the game at 52-52 after a bucket from George Sikoryak III four minutes later. The Liberty League foes would then play to two more ties at 56-56 and 62-62, but the backend of free throws for Hobart made it a 63-62 contest with 3:28 left.

Hobart would hold onto that lead until Wendell drilled a jumper with 15 seconds remaining in the game to put the Bombers up 75-74, and then the defense forced a missed shot on the final possession to come away with the victory after Sikoryak corralled the rebound.

Wendell finished the evening with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 at the line. Sikoryak played one his best games of his career as he went a perfect 7-for-7 from the field to finish with 16 points and four rebounds.

Radovich added 16 points on 6-of-16 from the floor, while Spellman earned a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Ithaca will return to action on Tuesday, January 10 at RIT for a 7:30 p.m. tip and then head back to South Hill for games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson over the weekend.