ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College men's basketball left everything it had on the floor Saturday afternoon, as the team ran out of gas late against No. 25 ranked Hobart College, losing 82-72.
Entering the contest, the Statesmen of Hobart had already clinched the Liberty League regular season crown and had just moved into the top-25 rankings. They had also just beaten the Raptors by nearly 40 points a month ago out in Geneva, NY, so not many observers gave Bard a real chance in the contest.
None of that mattered to the Raptors however.
From the opening tip to the final whistle, Bard went right at Hobart with everything it had. The Raptors jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the contest, before Hobart began to display its pedigree.
Over an eight-minute stretch early in the first half, the Statesmen outscored the Raptors, 21-4, as they grabbed their biggest lead of the night, going up 23-9, with just under nine minutes to go in the half.
The hosts didn't fold in the face of the deficit though. To close out the opening half, Bard used a rally of its own, outscoring Hobart 18-8, to cut the lead to just 31-27 at the break.
As the game progressed into the second half, it became clear that it would be tight the rest of the way. Slowly but surely, the Raptors chipped into the Hobart lead, eventually getting the deficit to just a point with 8:53 remaining.
Over the next five minutes, Hobart regrouped and showed why it is nationally-ranked. The visitors outscored Bard, 19-6, to push their lead back up to 14 points.
Bard was able to get back within six points, down 74-68, with just 1:44 remaining, but ran out of time before it could get any closer.
With the loss, the Raptors dropped to 7-16 overall and 5-11 in Liberty League play. Hobart meanwhile, improved to 20-3 and 15-1 in league games.
Alijah Rue scored 24 points on 7-of-16 shooting to lead all scorers. The freshman also finished with four rebounds and four assists in the effort.
Jelani Bell-Isaac collected a double-double for the Raptors with his 17 points and 10 rebounds, while
Justyn Rogers and
David Runcie each scored 12 points.
Hobart was led on the afternoon by freshman Dan Masino (Fairport, NY), who scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Jamal Lucas (New York, NY) also chipped in 20 points in the win for the Statesmen.
Before the game tipped off, the team took a moment to honor
Caleb LaRosa and team manager Emily Weisman for Senior Day. LaRosa had missed all season due to a back injury, but still managed to start and play two minutes for the Raptors in his final home game.
Up next for the Raptors is one final weekend before the season wraps up. The team travels to Ithaca College on February 16th to take on the Bombers at 8 p.m. You can follow that game right here.
