ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Question: In basketball, how do you cut a 24-point lead to 10 in two minutes and 52 seconds?

Answer: You play great defense and make your three-point attempts.

Bard did that on Saturday, turning a game that had dissolved into a rout into something suddenly exciting. But St. Joseph's-Brooklyn responded, then had to fight off another Bard rally to prevail, 66-55, in a non-conference game.

Box score

With 8:13 left in the game, it was over. St. Joseph's-Brooklyn led, 54-30, and Bard was shooting the ball horribly, including 1-for-18 from beyond the three-point line.

Then Chris McNaughton hit a three ... then Siondueh Burnette hit a short jumper ... then Jeremy Arnstein hit a three ... then Yonah Greenstein hit a three ... then McNaughton hit another three. Just like that, it was 54-44, and there was still 5:21 left in the game.

The Bears (3-4) responded, hitting four straight foul shots and a couple of layups created by breaking Bard's pressure. It was a 10-0 run, so the lead was back to 20 with 2:40. The game was over again. But not quite.

Bard (2-4) frantically kept pressing ... a layup from Lamar Powell, another three by McNaughton, a layup from Francis Arnold ... and the lead was cut to nine. By that time, the game was in its final minute.

So this time, it really was over.

The Raptors struggled with the pressure St. Joseph's-Brooklyn was creating in the first half and shot just 30 percent from the field. Meanwhile, senior guard Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY) was causing all sorts of problems, scoring 18 points and grabbing five rebounds in the first 20 minutes. It was 37-19 at halftime.

Gist was held to just five points in the second half, but freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY) picked up the slack. He scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes and finished with 12 rebounds. Gist finished with 23 points.

For Bard, McNaughton had 11 of his team-high 14 points in the second half, and Burnette finished with 12 points before leaving the game with a bruised knee in the final minutes. Arnold contributed seven points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Frank Stortini led the team with nine rebounds.

Bard's next game is on Wednesday night at Rutgers-Camden at 8 p.m.