The Bard College men's basketball team held on to prevent RIT's comeback and defeated the Tigers 81-73 in their conference opener on Friday night at Clark Gymnasium.

Lazaros Panagiotounis led the team with his fifth 20+ point game, with 23 points. He was 12-for-13 from the free-throw line. His 12 free throws made placed him tied for third in the record book for free throws made in a game with Lamar Powell and Price Mason. He added three rebounds and two assists. 

Azriel Almodovar had a near-double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds. He added two assists and a team-high four steals. Jalen Umstead scored a career-high 11 points, shooting 3-of-4 from behind the arc. He grabbed four boards and had a steal and an assist. 

Lucas Tovar and Max Frei each had seven points. Frei added three rebounds, an assist with no turnovers, while Tovar added two rebounds and a steal. Sean Wilcox and Rowan Heinze each had nine points. Wilcox tied his career-high with five blocks while adding eight rebounds. 

Bard started hot, taking a 10-3 lead in four minutes of play. RIT began to come back and got within one of the Raptors (14-13). The Raptors then went on a 15-9 run, including eight points from Umstead. With less than two minutes left, Bard finished with an 11-5 run to have an 11-point cushion heading to halftime. 

In the second half, Bard outshot RIT from the field 45.83% to 39.39%. The Raptors kept RIT within 10 and 11 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Tigers switched gears and got within five points with three minutes left. Bard finished the game with an eight-point difference. 

RIT struggled to shoot from the free-throw line, shooting just 56% (14-25), compared to Bard's season-high percentage of 87.5% (21-24). Bard also outshot the Tigers from behind the arc by 43.5% (10-23) to 31.0% (9-29). The Raptors scored 19 points off turnovers and 25 bench points. 

Bard will head to Ithaca tomorrow for a 4 p.m. tip-off.