Release courtesy of Swarthmore Athletic Communications

SWARTHMORE, Pa.—No. 1 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball moved on to the NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen for the third season in a row after bouncing the visiting Ithaca College Bombers 86-78 on Saturday night in the round of 32.

Things were looking a little hairy in the first half as Ithaca built an eight-point lead with 7:30 left in the period. Swarthmore steadily chipped away at that lead put Ithaca moved back to a six-point advantage with three minutes left in the half. The Garnet erased that with a personal six-point run by junior guard Ryan Ingram that was arguably the turning point in the contest. Ingram knocked down a triple at the top of the arc, and then after a Shafer steal, went on a fastbreak run that concluded with a eurostep-layup and the foul for a 3-point play. Ingram finished with 13 points off the bench and was one of five Garnet players in double figures.

The teams went into the locker room tied at 44 and traded blows early on in the second half. A fastbreak layup with 13 minutes left by Vinny DeAngelo, who scored a game-high 21 points, put Swarthmore ahead by five.

Ithaca retook the lead with 11 minutes left with a trey. The Bombers, true to their name, dropped 43 shots from long-distance and sank 17 of them (39.5 percent).

Swarthmore then kept Ithaca off the board for the next five-and-a-half minutes. The Garnet went on an 8-0 run during that stretch.

Free throws by DeAngelo set Swarthmore's lead to its peak, 11 points with 4:29 left. Ithaca, to its credit, didn't go away and pulled within three with two minutes to go.

Nate Shafer scored four straight points in the next minute to take control of the game and grabbed one of his career-high 20 rebounds. He finished with 14 points, four blocks, three assists and two steals. George Visconti pitched in 15 points and eight boards. Conor Harkins tallied 13 points. Zac O'Dell added eight points and 13 rebounds.

Swarthmore will next host Whitworth University in the round of 16 on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Tarble Pavilion.