Box Score | RPI Athletics on YouTube

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - A 12-0 spurt over a 99-second span allowed the Rensselaer men's basketball team to erase a six-point deficit late in the game, and the Engineers went on to defeat Bard College, 82-74, in a Liberty League game on Tuesday night.

Bard (0-1 Liberty League, 5-5 overall) led 60-54 with 7:48 remaining in the game. RPI's pressure defense forced three turnovers over the next minute and a half, and senior Nick Keefe (Rensselaer, NY) scored six of the 12 points in the run to give RPI a 66-60 lead with 6:09 to go.

Bard frantically tried to get back in it, cutting the deficit to three with 4:38 left, but the Raptors never got closer.

RPI (2-1 Liberty League, 4-8) overall got off to a fast start and had Bard on its heels early, running out to a 26-14 lead with 7:55 left in the first half. But a 24-0 run over the next seven-plus minutes pushed Bard back into the lead, and the Raptors went into halftime up, 38-31.

Keefe scored 18 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. Senior Reggie Colas (Miami, FL) finished with 15 points while sophomore Chase Almond (South Kingstown, RI) contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Engineers forced 25 turnovers and limited Bard to 39 percent from the field in the second half, after yielding 50 percent in the first half.

Up next for the Engineers is a road conference contest at Skidmore on Friday night at 8.

Bard got 22 points from senior Lamar Powell (East Orange, NJ), 20 points from freshman Alex Fabean-Scotch (Alexandria, VA), and 10 points and eight rebounds from sophomore Brandon Cunningham (Bronx, NY).

Bard next hosts RIT on Friday night at 8.