THOROUGHBREDS DROPPED BY ITHACA BOMBERS, 84-71

ITHACA, N.Y. >> Despite a strong second-half effort, a late run by Ithaca doomed the Skidmore College men’s basketball team, as they fell to the Bombers by a 84-71 score in Liberty League action at Ben Light Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. Skidmore falls to 9-6 overall and 5-4 in conference. Ithaca improves to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the league as the teams near the halfway point of the league schedule. Edvinas Rupkus led all scorers with 27 points and eight rebounds. Rupkus went 13for-16 from the free throw line, tallying a season-high for trips to the charity stripe. Jack Byrne added 15 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Noah Meren added 13 points and 10 rebounds, his second career double-double. Ty Lamport grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds. Marc Chasin led Ithaca with 15 points, leading five Bombers in double-digits. “I thought we competed hard but it’s difficult to overcome so many turnovers, 17 missed foul shots and 16 missed threes,” said head coach Joe Burke. “We will get back to work this week. We need to keep improving individually and collectively. We have many guys taking on roles we didn’t expect, so our player development is key until we get some more guys healthy.” The Bombers, never trailing throughout, jumped out to a 12-4 lead, with the Thoroughbreds chipping away at the deficit. A 3-pointer by Dakpe Yiljep reduced the deficit to four, at 33-29, at the 5:05 mark, and a pair of free throws by Lamport gave Ithaca a 37-34 lead with 2:55 remaining. Bryne beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to end the half, as the Thoroughbreds headed to halftime trailing by one, at 40-39. In the second half, an 8-0 run pushed Ithaca’s lead to 11, at 56-45, before Skidmore responded with an 8-0 run of its own. With Ithaca holding onto a 60-58 lead, the Bombers pulled away with an 18-7 advantage over a six-minute stretch, taking a 78-65 lead with 3:58 to go. From there, Ithaca staved off a late Skidmore run to win by double digits. The Thoroughbreds shot 37.1 percent from the field, out rebounding Ithaca by a 43-40 margin. Skidmore returns to action next Friday, traveling to Union at 8 p.m.