ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The three-pointers kept going up, and the three-pointers kept going in. And it wasn't usually the same guy who made the last one.
The Bard College men's basketball team got off to an astonishing start, making 11-of-15 three-pointers in the first half, then survived two furious second-half rallies to knock off Union College, 82-79, in a Liberty League game on Friday night, in front of a raucous crowd clad in black.
The win gave Bard it's first-ever season sweep of Union - they nipped the Dutchmen, 78-77, in Schenectady on Jan. 10 - and also gave Bard it's fourth conference win of the season, another first. The Raptors are 9-9 overall and 4-5 in the Liberty League, meaning they'll enter Saturday in fifth place in the conference standings. Four teams make the playoffs.
Five Bard players hit multiple three-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
Harry Johnson made all three he took.
DeVahnte Mosley,
Alex Fabean-Scotch,
Emmanuel Rainey and
Zach Goodman each went 2-for-3 and the Raptors had a 50-34 halftime lead on 63 percent shooting.
One could have expected that Union would make a second-half run, as they entered the weekend as the highest-scoring team in the league. What might not have been expected were
two furious rallies that brought Union close, but never got them over the top.
A 15-4 run cut Union's deficit to 58-53 with 13:27 left, and the pressure was definitely starting to build on the team that squandered the halftime lead. But the Raptors responded with a run of their own, pushing the lead back to 14 with 10:35 left.
Then Union started to press, and it spurred another run, this one 14-5, and Bard's lead dwindled to 72-67 with 6:24 left. Bard's lead stayed between five and nine until the final 90 seconds, when things got a little crazy. A pair of free throws by Ryan Whelpley (Olean, NY) trimmed the advantage to 80-75 with 1:26 left. After Bard missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, William Hython (Syracuse) made one of two at the other end to cut the lead to four.
Mosley sank two free throws with 36 seconds left to make it six, but Deshon Burgess hit a three-pointer at the other end with 15 seconds left to make it 82-79. Union was set to foul and hope for the best.
They fouled Mosley with 14 seconds left and he missed both. Union worked to get senior Terell Winney (Scotia, NY) a look at a three-pointer, but Fabean-Scotch was right in his lap and Winney's contested fallaway three at the buzzer was short, sending the Bard fans into a celebration.
Burgess led all scorers with 27 points for Union.
Bard placed five players in double figures. Mosley had 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and a block.
Brandon Cunningham, who has really begun to emerge in the second half of the season, had his best game as a Raptor with 17 points, 15 rebounds and three assists.
Harry Johnson had 13 points, while Fabean-Scotch and Rainey finished with 10 each. The Raptors enjoyed a 39-23 rebounding advantage and had 19 assists, their most in a game since last season's opener against Suffolk.
The buzz of the victory will have to end quickly. Powerful Skidmore visits Annandale on Saturday. The Thoroughbreds are a half-game out of first place in the Liberty League and topped Bard 63-37, back on Jan. 9. Follow the game live if you can't attend. Tip is at 4.
