TROY, N.Y. - Heading into Tuesday night's game at RPI, Bard had a lot of things to fix from the home game against RPI just two weeks ago, a humbling 103-69 loss.

Bard fixed everything. Well, almost everything.

The Raptors got behind early, battled back, took two brief leads in the second half, then faded down the stretch in a 93-83 loss to RPI. The Engineers (9-10 overall, 6-5 Liberty League), who beat first-place Hobart last weekend, avoided what would have been a huge upset by outscoring Bard 22-15 over the last 7:26.

Box score

The first time these teams met, RPI outrebounded Bard 59-41. Tuesday night, Bard outrebounded RPI, 46-33. In that first game, Bard shot 42 percent from the field; Tuesday night, the Raptors shot 48 percent.

But the turnovers ... Bard turned it over 31 times two weeks ago, and 27 times last night. That proved to be the difference.

At halftime, it didn't look like it was going to turn out that way. The Raptors (3-14, 1-8) got behind 21-9, then caught fire over the last 5:22 of the half, making seven of their last nine shots to outscore RPI 18-7. The Engineers led, 44-43, at the break, and Bard had more assists (12) than turnovers (11) after 20 minutes.

RPI pushed that lead to eight after a few minutes, but Bard hung around and slowly crept back to within striking distance. The Raptors took their first lead with 12:47 left, 57-56, after a layup by freshman Jose Canario. It lasted eight seconds.

So Bard came back again, this time taking a 65-64 lead after an old-fashioned three-point play by Canario with 9:07 remaining. But that lead lasted only 22 seconds.

The most crucial juncture in the game for Bard ensued. When Frank Stortini made a three-pointer with 7:26 left, the Raptors were down 71-68. But over the next four minutes and 50 seconds, Bard went 0-for-4 from the field and turned it over six times. It was 82-70 at the end of that stretch, and Bard got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

RPI got 19 points apiece from seniors Matthew Pooley (Middletown, NY) and Matt Dixon (Troy, NY). The Engineers don't play again until next Tuesday at Vassar.

Bard got 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks from Matt Shubert; 14 points from Yonah Greenstein; 13 points and nine rebounds from Canario; and 11 points and seven rebounds from Francis Arnold. Siondueh Burnette, playing with an injured toe, contributed six points, six rebounds, two steals and a block in 18 minutes.

Next up for Bard is Union in Annandale, on Friday night at 8 p.m. The Raptors will host Skidmore on Saturday at 4 p.m.