Hamilton College's Michael Grassey '19 poured in 22 points and the Continentals posted a 68-53 non-conference men's basketball win against the Bard College Raptors at Bard's Stevenson Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.

Hamilton (6-2 overall) grabbed a 6-5 edge early in the first half and led the rest of the way. The Continentals shot 50 percent from the field and held a 37-36 edge on the boards.

Grassey was 9 of 13 shooting from the floor, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range, and grabbed seven rebounds. He is averaging nearly 22 points in the last four games. Grassey is shooting 50.5 percent from the field and leads the team with 17 baskets from beyond the arc.

Joe Pucci '18 dropped in 10 points and Peter Hoffmann '19 chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals for Hamilton. Hoffmann is second in the NESCAC with 3.0 steals per game. Jack Dwyer '18 handed out five assists and Andrew Groll '19 blocked a pair of shots. Dwyer is third in the conference with 6.1 assists per contest and Groll is fifth with an average of 1.4 blocks per game.

Christopher Rogers paced the Raptors (2-7) with 14 points and seven boards off the bench. Five of Rogers' rebounds were on the offensive glass. Armando Dunn contributed 12 points and three steals, and Harry Johnson recorded eight points and seven rebounds. Bard shot 35.6 percent from the floor, including 5 of 23 from long range (21.7 percent), as the Raptors suffered their fourth straight loss.

Hoffmann's jumper with 16:34 left in the first half put the Continentals in the lead for good at 6-5. Hamilton's advantage grew to as much as nine points at 24-15 after a Grassey 3-pointer with 6:56 remaining.

A trifecta by the Continentals' Kyle Pitman '17 made it 31-25 with 2:21 to go but Bard sliced its deficit to a single point on a Johnson 3-pointer and then a layup by Dunn with 1:20 left. Hamilton closed out the half with a layup by Kena Gilmour '20 and a tip-in basket by Wes Wilbur '17that made it 35-30 at the break. The Continentals shot 53.3 percent from the floor during the first 20 minutes.

Hamilton opened the second half with layups by Hoffmann and Grassey, and the Raptors didn't get closer than six points the rest of the afternoon. A Hoffmann jumper was part of a 7-0 spurt that put the Continentals up by double digits for the first time at 47-36 with 14:17 remaining.

After a 3-pointer by Bard's Chris Lockwood made it 49-39, Hamilton went on a 10-2 run and took its largest lead of 18 points at 59-41 with 7:25 to go. Grassey scored seven of the 10 points during the run that put the game away for the Continentals. Pucci scored all 10 of his points in the second half. The Raptors shot just 26.7 percent from the field during the last 20 minutes.

The Hamilton men are off for finals and the holidays until Thursday, Dec. 29 when they travel to Jamaica, N.Y., for another non-conference game at York College.