Bard Makes It Seven Straight, At Westbury

By Pearllan Cipriano

The Bard College men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to seven games last Tuesday night with a wire-to-wire victory at SUNY Old Westbury, defeating the Panthers 72-44 at Clark Athletic Center.

Bard (7-1) established an 8-0 lead within the first four minutes and never looked back, leading 17-4 at the 11-minute mark before it stretched its advantage to 17 points by halftime.

Old Westbury (0-9) cut its deficit down to 11 points, 41-30, with 13:38 remaining, before the Raptors countered with a 10-2 run. Down the stretch, Bard used a 17-4 run to lead by 29 points with 3:02 to go.

Overall, Bard shot 51 percent (27-of-53) from the field, including a season-high 13 three-pointers (13-of-29; 45 percent from long range), while holding Old Westbury to 26 percent shooting (16-of-62) overall and 17 percent (4-of-23) from three-point range.

Senior Elliot Harris led all scorers with 27 points, just four points off his career high. He was electric from three-point range, shooting a career-high 8-of-12 beyond the arc. It is tied for the second-most three-pointers by a Raptor in a single game in school history, and the most since Adam Turner made eight against St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn on Feb. 15, 2003.

Harris was 6-of-9 from three-point range in the first half, leading all scorers with 18 points at halftime. His previous career high for three-pointers was seven, set Dec. 3, 2021 in an 87-85 overtime loss vs. RIT.

Ten different Raptors scored points on the night. Sophomore Connor Melis provided a second-half spark and finished with 10 points, three rebounds and two assists. Junior Sean Wilcox came close to a double-double with nine points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Rowan Heinze, the reigning Liberty League Performer of the Week, scored all seven of his points in the second half and added six rebounds. Lazaros Panagiotounis made a pair of three-pointers, and Cory Dennis hit a key three-pointer to help spark the Raptors’ counter run in the second half.

Bard will now break for the holidays and return to action with a pair of games in Georgia hosted by Oglethorpe University, the first being against the host Stormy Petrels on Friday, Dec. 29 at 4 p.m.