Bard Basketball Earns Victory Over Union

Dec 18, 2024

Azriel Almodovar had a career-high seven steals, putting him in third place for most steals by a Bard player all-time in a game. Photo: Jalen Smiley

By Noah Poll

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON – The Bard College men’s basketball team led for more than 33 minutes in a straight-forward win over Union at Stevenson Athletic Center in their annual Pink Out game.

Azriel Almodovar had a career-high seven steals, putting him in third place for most steals by a Bard player all-time in a game. He also is the first Raptor to have 7+ points, 7+ rebounds, 7+ steals, and 7+ assists in a game. Lazaros Panagiotounis led the team in scoring, with 17 points on 21 shots. He grabbed four boards and played a team-high 34 minutes. Rowan Heinze had 11 points, shot 5-of-10 from the field, and grabbed five rebounds. Sean Wilcox had a career-high 13 rebounds to add to his 11 points for his second double-double. Wilcox added a team-high two blocks.

Coach Dave Sloan said after the game, “we controlled the pace and made them have to execute.” He also noted that on offense, “we’ve been getting good shots all season, they just haven’t fallen”, which the Raptors were able to do today at a higher clip, shooting a season-high 45.5% from the field.

Union opened the game with an early 8-2 lead, but the Raptors responded, going on a 15-5 run after a timeout called by head coach Dave Sloan. Union shot 9-of-30 in the first half. The Garnet Chargers had six turnovers in the half to Bard’s three. Sean Wilcox had seven points in the first half to lead the Raptors.

In the second half, Panagiotounis had 12 points to lead all scorers, hitting three free throws, a three, and making a trio of contested layups. At 17:18 in the second half, the Raptors turned a three point edge into a 14 point lead during a 14-3 run. They held Union to 1-of-11 shooting while going 5-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line in that time.

Overall, they shut down the Garnet Chargers who average 82.1 points per game and shoot 45.6 from the field. Bard ranks fifth in the nation for field goal percentage defense and limited Union to 31.8% from the field which is their lowest field percentage of the season.