By Noah Poll
The Bard College men’s basketball team fell 52-68 at St. Lawrence in a Liberty League game at Burkman Gymnasium.
Sean Wilcox led the team in scoring, with 11. Wilcox added two rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Azriel Almodovar added 10 points and seven rebounds to go with two assists.
Lazaros Panagiotounis hit two threes, dished out a team-high six assists, and had three rebounds. Jalen Umstead and Rowan Heinze each had seven points. Umstead had a career-high two blocks, while Heinze had a steal in addition to overall physical defense on 6’10” Andrew Cowan. Ahmad Rauf had six points, four rebounds, and a block while Max Frei chipped in with two points, three boards, two assists, and a steal.
Bard had a methodical approach in the first half, finding cutters against the St. Lawrence zone. The second half got away from the Raptors as momentum shifted in the Saints’ favor during a 13-0 run. Neither team extended a large lead through a first half that featured five ties and five lead changes. The largest lead by either team was a six point St. Lawrence lead, 22-16.
Rauf hit a three to open the second half, but the Saints responded with 13 straight points to extend their lead to 15, 24-39. To stop the bleeding, the Raptors had their own run of seven straight, capped off by a steal and two free throws by Almodovar. St. Lawrence closed out the game comfortably despite the Raptors getting to the free throw line for ten made free throws in the second half.