ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Bard College men's basketball team cut a 25-point, second-half deficit down to eight with a furious rally, but Rochester Institute of Technology responded and defeated the Raptors, 99-81, in Bard's season finale on Saturday afternoon.

RIT moves on to the Liberty League playoffs with an 11-7 conference record, 13-12 overall. Bard's season ends at 5-13, 7-18.

The Tigers jumped out to a huge lead in the first half, shooting 53 percent from the floor, and they were up 22 at halftime, 46-24.

But Bard had four players score in double figures in the second half alone. It was 81-59 with 8:32 left in the game when the Raptors awoke. Over the next four minutes, Bard outscored RIT 16-2, and it was 83-75 with 4:21 remaining. RIT did enough down the stretch to hold Bard off.

Senior Anthony Lewis (Rochester, NY) led the Tigers with 26 points; Troy Pierre-Louis (Providence, RI) added 21 points, and Roger Aguilera (Webster, NY) added points and 10 rebounds.

David Runcie led Bard with 19 points and three steals; Jelani Bell-Isaac finished with 18 points and eight rebounds; Zach Jacobs had 15 of his 17 points in the second half, and Justyn Rogers added 13 points and three steals.