The Ithaca College men’s basketball team upset the previously undefeated No. 13 University of Rochester 85–70. The Bombers improved to 4–3 on the season with the win and beat a ranked Yellowjacket team for the second year in a row.

The Bombers came out firing on all cylinders as they jumped out to a 9–2 lead within the opening three minutes of the contest. The Blue and Gold did not take their foot off of the pedal and continued to take a commanding 21–6 lead over the next four minutes. Junior guard Sebastian Alderete led the charge with 10 points while junior guard Riley Thompson added five on the run.

The Yellowjackets were able to fight back and bring the deficit to within six points, but within the last minute, the Bombers were able to take a 44–36 lead going into halftime.

At the start of the second half, the Bombers were able to go on a quick 5–2 run to bring their lead to 11, but the Yellowjackets rattled off seven straight points to cut the Bombers lead to four at 49–45. The Bombers were then able to go on another run of their own and took a commanding 59–47 lead.

The South Hill squad never looked back and cruised the rest of the way, taking the contest 85–70. The top scorers for the Bombers were Thompson and senior Peter Ezema, who both contributed 17 points. Alderete finished with 15 while sophomore Bryan Karl added 14. The Blue and Gold hit 14 three-pointers in the game, which was exceptional considering the Yellowjackets had the 12th-best scoring defense in Division III entering the contest.

The Bombers are off until after the holidays but will travel to the Land of Magic Tournament right before the new year. Their tournament opener starts at 8 p.m. Dec. 29 against No. 4 Hamilton College in Daytona, Florida.