ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — The Bard men's basketball team is back in the postseason for the first time since the 2018-19 season as the sixth-seeded Raptors travel to third-seeded RPI for the first round of the Liberty League Tournament on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Bard entered the postseason with a 14-11 record (9-9 Liberty League), and finished in a three-way tie with RIT and Union for fourth place in the conference standings. RIT earned the tiebreaker by posting three wins against the conference's top-three teams, compared to Union with two and Bard with one. Top-seed Hobart and second-seed St. Lawrence both received byes into the semifinal.
This is Bard's second appearance in the Liberty League Tournament. The team's last game in the tournament was on February 19, 2019, when the Raptors visited #3 seed Hobart and fell by an 89-72 score.
VS RPI: RPI has a 21-3 all-time record against the Raptors. The last time Bard won against RPI was on January 12, 2019 at home with a 68-54 victory. This year, the Raptors lost 47-45 at RPI and 72-51 at home. In the game at RPI, the Raptors had a five-point lead at halftime, but RPI came out shooting in the second half. It was the Engineers' layup with 13 seconds left that made the difference in the end, as the Raptors were unable to make the final shot.
STARTING FIVE: Bard's starting five has three players averaging double-digit points (Lazaros Panagiotounis, Rowan Heinze, and Elliot Harris). Panagiotounis leads the team on average with 13.4 points per game (PPG), ranked eighth in the league. He is followed by Heinze, who averages 12.8 PPG and ranks 10th in the league. Three-point shooter Harris averages 12.0 PPG and leads the league in 3-PT FG per game and second in 3-PT FG%. On the defensive end, the Raptors will look to Azriel Almodovar, who leads the team in both rebounds (6.1 per game, 9th in the league) and steals (2.1 per game, tied for first in the league). Junior Sean Wilcox is the lone starter who is not a senior, and ranks third in the league in blocks with 44, averaging 1.8 per game.
THE BENCH HELP: Bard will look to use Heston Tucker, Cory Dennis and Kevin Le for help from off the bench. Tucker is shooting 55.6% from the field with a 6.6 PPG, while Dennis averages 3.5 PPG and shooting 32.7% from the three-point range. Le averages 44.7% from the field and has been averaging 6.7 minutes but has been able to total 23 rebounds and a 1.7 PPG.
ABOUT RPI: RPI enters the Liberty League playoffs for the ninth time since 2003-04, having previously won championships in 2009, 2020, and 2021. RPI has been in the championship game at least six times, including last year against St. Lawrence. The Engineers took the Saints to overtime in the championship but fell 50-42 in the end. This season, RPI has gone 15-10 overall with a 12-6 Liberty League record. The Engineers will look Jonny Angbazo, who leads the team with 14.5 PPG and 5.8 RPG.