ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Nobody, not even Bard College men's basketball coach Adam Turner, can say they saw this coming.

Down a point at halftime on Wednesday night to rival Vassar, the Raptors began the second half on an 18-2 run and blew the Brewers out, 88-60, by outscoring the visitors 47-18 in the last 20 minutes.

The win tied the program record for wins in a season (11) with one game remaining. It also was a huge departure from the kind of games fans have become accustomed to between these neighboring schools since Bard joined the Liberty League in 2011. In the seven meetings before Wednesday night, the largest margin of victory for either team was seven points, and total points scored read Vassar 428, Bard 425.

But Bard has now won five of its eight games against Vassar since becoming a conference member, and this one was memorable in more ways than one.

Senior Siondueh Burnette had a thunderous dunk in the first half and later scored his 1,000th career point on Senior Night, becoming the ninth Bard player to ever do it.

For 20 minutes, it looked like it was going to be a typical Vassar-Bard game, and both coaches knew it. Neither used a time out in the entire first half - which took 32 minutes - and the Brewers led, 42-41, at the break. Both teams shot the ball well and everyone, including the boisterous Bard fans who attended, hunkered down for what was expected to be another nail-biter.

It never materialized.

Curtis Smith (Mastic, NY) hit a jumper to start the second half, and Vassar led, 44-41. Burnette scored six of the first eight points in the 18-0 run that ensued, and the atmosphere in the Stevenson Athletic Center went from tense to celebratory. Vassar trimmed the deficit to 10 with 9:20 to go but never got closer, and the Bard Student Section, the BirdGang, went nuts for the last 10 minutes of the game as Bard's lead ballooned to 30 in the final minute.

Bard outrebounded Vassar 29-14, shot 64 percent from the field and made 12-of-19 three-pointers. Forty of Bard's 88 points were in the paint, and Bard's bench outscored Vassar's, 31-3.

Burnette finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, scoring his 1,000th on a layup during the 18-0 run. Harry Johnson added 17 points including 5-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and DeVahnte Mosley added 13 points. Pat Lichtenstein, playing in his final home game after an injury-marred season, scored six points including a three-pointer.

After the game, members of the team ran over to the stands and celebrated with the BirdGang, who have made the Stevenson Athletic Center into a difficult place to play.

Even those who have been at Bard for 20 years can not remember a half of basketball like the one they saw on Wednesday night. And the energy in the gym is something everyone around Bard Athletics has been craving for years.

On Sunday, Bard will travel to RPI to finish the 2014-15 season. The Raptors, who are 11-13 overall and 6-9 in the Liberty League, will have an opportunity to become the winningest men's basketball team ever at Bard.

The last Bard team to win 11 games went 11-13 in 2003-04. That team had a 6-foot-5 sophomore on the roster who eventually went on to become Bard's all-time leading scorer. His name?

Adam Turner.