TROY, N.Y. - The Bard College men's basketball team fell in heartbreaking fashion Sunday evening, losing on a buzzer-beating shot at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 59-57, to finish its season.

The loss dropped the Raptors to, 4-21 overall and 2-14 in Liberty League play. The Engineers of RPI, meanwhile, wrapped up their season with a 14-11 record overall and finished .500 in conference play at 8-8.

The fact that game came down to a final shot, showed the dedication and drive that the Raptors had on the afternoon, as the team rallied numerous times in the game, including from a 14-point deficit early in the second half. 

To open the game, each side battled for the early lead in the first 20 minutes. However, neither side could take control for most of the half, as the lead changed eight times during the frame.

Toward the end of the first half into the second half, is where RPI was able to pull away and take advantage. With 2:25 remaining in the first half to 15:23 remaining in the second, RPI used a 14-0 run to build a, 40-26 lead, and put some real breathing room between them and the Raptors.

However, as we had seen all year long, Bard thrives in moments like these. Slowly but surely, the visitors chipped into the Engineers lead, cutting it to a single digit score over the final ten minutes of the game. 

Over the final two and half minutes, Bard finally tied the game back up twice at, 55 and 57-all, but just weren't able to get over that final hump to take the lead.

In the closing seconds of the game, Bard had a great chance to win.

With 30 seconds remaining, Chris Lockwood, dribbled down the clock before he drove into the lane and kicked the ball out to Emmanuel Oyakhilome. The freshman had a wide open three pointer, that was just a little too strong and it clanged off the back of the rim back into play where RPI was able to grab the ball and quickly call timeout.

The timeout was called with :01.2 left in the game, which gave the hosts just enough time to get a shot off. The shot, much to the chagrin of Bard and Kentucky fans alike, can be best described as Christian Laettner-esqe. 

RPI's Nate Kane (Glenmont, NY) inbounded the ball near the mid-court line, on RPI's defensive side, throwing a pass to Brian Hatcher (Danbury,CT), who caught the ball with his back to the basket, turned to his right and got off a contested jumper that went in just as time expired.

Hatcher's fellow teammates rushed the court and mobbed him as Bard was left with a bitter feeling in its mouth.

On the day, the Raptors were led by Armando Dunn, who scored a team-high 16 points. RPI collected 21 points from Andreas Kontopidis (Sherborn, MA) in the win.

While the Raptors didn't finish the season the way they wanted to, the program has much to look forward to in the coming years. 

The team saw great play out of many of its young players this season, especially the bigs down low. The team will undoubtedly miss it's three departing seniors though, Chris Lockwood, Harry Johnson and Pat Kelly. The three were all starters this year and represented the wings and shooting on the team. 

In the last game of their careers, Lockwood finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, Johnson chipped in eight points and Kelly added four points.

The three will be dearly missed at Bard, both on and off the court, but Bard Athletics wants to wish nothing but the best for the three in all of their future endeavors. Thank you all for everything you have done for Bard and its basketball program.