The Bard College men's basketball team took down USMMA, 66-58, on Thursday night to start the 2025 year. 

The Raptors had three players in double-digit points as Lazaros Panagiotounis had a near double-double with nine rebounds and a team-high 24 points, his seventh game with 20+ points. He added three assists. Rowan Heinze scored 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting and added seven rebounds.

Sean Wilcox stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. Max Frei had a team-high four assists, while Azriel Almodovar contributed with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and a team-high three steals. 

Both teams started off slow in the first half, scoring only 10 points in the game's first six minutes. USMMA went on a 9-2 run to take an early lead with nine minutes left to play in the first half. The Raptors switched their defense, and Lazaros Panagiotounis started to get his offensive flow from behind the arc as he shot 5-of-8 with 15 points. Bard's 36% from the floor was better than USMMA's 30.3%, but the Merchant Marines capitalized on the Raptors' turnovers, scoring 14 points from Bard's 11 turnovers. 

In the second half, the Raptors outscored the Merchant Marines 40-30. Bard shut down the USMMA offense at 13:51, and the Raptors went on a 16-2 run in five minutes. The Mariners could not tie the game after the Raptors took the lead. Bard shot nearly 50% from the field, 15-of-32, and outrebounded USMMA 25-20. 

Bard will stay on the road next week as they compete against Union on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.