ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Alijah Rue's game-tying three pointer with just 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation gave the Bard College men's basketball team all the momentum it needed heading into overtime, as the Raptors outlasted Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 71-65. 

The win pushed the Raptors to 7-15 overall and 5-10 in Liberty League play, while the Engineers of RPI fell to 11-10 and 7-8. 

RPI jumped out to an early lead to begin the game, before a 10-0 Bard run put the hosts up 17-11 with 8:55 remaining in the half. The Raptors held the lead the rest of the half, pushing their advantage to as many as 10 points, before settling for a 28-21 lead at the halftime break.

In the second half, the status quo remained, as Bard held the lead most of the way. It wasn't until the half neared the midway point that RPI started to flip the script against Bard. Over a ten minute stretch late in the second half, Bard was outscored 20-6 by the Engineers, which resulted in RPI holding a 57-50 lead with just 2:23 remaining.

The Raptors, just like they have all season, didn't go down without a fight. A Justyn Rogers' jumper, a forced turnover and a layup by Rue cut the deficit to just three points with 1:55 to go. After RPI missed a shot on its end, Rogers came back with another jumper to get it down to just a point with a little over one minute left. 

After each side traded missed three pointers, the visitors pushed the lead back up to three points, 59-56, with just 22 seconds to go. Another Rue layup cut it back to one point, before the Raptors were forced to foul RPI. The Engineers nailed both free throws, leaving Bard again down by three with 10 seconds to go.

The Raptors quickly called timeout to draw up a play from the inbound. The play worked, as Emmanuel Oyakhilome had a clean look from the left side of the arc, but his shot missed of the front of rim, bouncing away from the hoop.

Rue was Johnny on the spot, grabbing the offensive rebound at the foul line, before racing back toward the three point line. He used a crossover and stepback to give himself just enough space from the defender, then launched up a 30-foot three pointer, which splashed home tying the game at 61-61.

In the overtime period, it was all Bard. RPI scored the first two points of the frame on free throws, before the Raptors ripped off a 10-0 run, as the Engineers looked shellshocked and unable to recover from the game-tying three point dagger in regulation. 

In addition to the clutch three pointer, Rue dominated from start to finish for the Raptors. The freshman finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting, collected eight rebounds and dished out five assists.

Rogers added 14 points, while David Runcie also scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Oyakhilome grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds in the win.

RPI had two players finish with 17 points each, but leading scorer, Tom Horvat (Cranston, RI) was held to just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting in the game. He entered the contest averaging 19.8 points.

Up next for the Raptors is one final home game in the 2017-18 season, as they host Hobart College tomorrow (2/10) at 4 p.m. You can follow that game right here.