Graduate student and captain Riley Naclerio scored a season high 30 points to lead the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team to an 82-77 win over Bard in conference play on Friday night at Burkman Gymnasium.

Naclerio was 12-for-16 from the floor and 3-for-7 from behind the arc; he also grabbed six rebounds. With 1,287 career points, Naclerio moved into 11th place on the Saints' all-time scoring list, surpassing Kyle Edwards '17, who scored 1,282.

Ben Crawford scored 16 points and added 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, while Chris Miner added 10 points and nine rebounds, and Brandon Arnold also reached double digits with 10 points.

The Saints controlled play early, but Bard battled back, as Justyn Rogers landed a 3-pointer to give Bard its first lead, 20-19, with 12:51 to play. Senior Dom DeRegis countered with a 4-point play, reclaiming the lead for the Saints.

The Saints started to pull away again, leading by nine points with six minutes left in the half, but Justyn Rogers hit a pair of free throws to tie the game, 42-42, with less than a minute to play in the half.

The Saints once again responded, with Miner and Naclerio hitting layups in the final minute to build a 46-42 halftime lead.

Early in the second half, Bard went an 11-0 run and held the Saints scoreless for almost five and a half minutes to take a 60-55 lead, the Raptors' largest lead of the game, near the midway point of the second half. Naclerio and Jelani Bell-Isaac traded 3-pointers before the Saints went on a 12-0 run to take a 70-63 lead with six and a half minutes to play

The Raptors battled back within one with 3:51 to play in the second half, but a series of free-throws down the stretch sealed the win for the Scarlet and Brown.



David Runcie and Armando Dunn led the Raptors with 19 points each, while Dunn grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds. Runcie shot 8-for-9 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the arc, while Dunn shot 8-for-13 from the floor. Rogers added 17 points and nine rebounds, while Rue and Bell-Isaac recorded 10 points and six rebounds each.

The Scarlet and Brown combined to shoot 45.2 percent from the floor and scored 13 fast-break points, 13 second-chance points and 15 points off turnovers.

St. Lawrence improved to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in Liberty League play, while Bard fell to 6-4 and 2-1 with its first league loss of the season.

The Saints will host Vassar at 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon to wrap up their first conference weekend of the year.