Annandale, N.Y. - In the opening round of the Hudson Valley Shootout Tuesday night, junior Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.) poured in 31 points to lead Mount Saint Mary College to a Skyline Conference victory over Bard College, 77-68. The Blue Knights improved to 2-1 on the year, while the Raptors dropped to 1-3.

Leading 12-11 with eleven minutes to play in the first half, Mount Saint Mary rattled off the next nine points, six of them on buckets from freshman Matt Weinberger (Washingtonville, N.Y.), to take a 21-11 lead. The Raptors would cut the lead to as few as five towards the end of the first half, but the Blue Knights carried a 34-23 advantage into the intermission.

Freshman Tim Morris (Greenwich, N.Y.) opened with the first five points of the second half to give the Mount a sixteen point lead and control of the game. Bard put together an 8-0 run starting at the fifteen minute mark and closed the gap to as few as six with eight minutes remaining, but never really threatened. Kuchar scored 15 of the final 19 points for the Blue Knights as they went on to a nine point victory.

Kuchar was 11-for-18 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc during what turned out to be a milestone night for the junior. A transfer from Centenary College, Kuchar scored 359 points during his freshman year and 588 points during his sophomore year for a total of 947 points with the Cyclones. His 31 points against Bard brought his junior season total to 56 and increased his career total past the 1,000 point barrier to 1,003.

Weinberger finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds, while Morris went for 12 points and 7 boards. Freshman Scott Henderson (Baldwin, N.Y.) just missed his first collegiate double-double, finishing with 9 points and 9 rebounds.

In what was a very physical contest down the stretch, Bard lost two players to foul outs and one to a flagrant foul ejection. Senior Demitrius Washington (Killeen, Texas) led the Raptors with 14 points before fouling out and sophomore Justin White (New York, N.Y.) tallied 10 points before picking up his fifth whistle. Freshman Elijah Strauss (Forest Hills, N.Y.) had a nice night for Bard as well, grabbing 10 boards to go along with 12 points.

Both teams will be in action again tomorrow as the Hudson Valley Shootout concludes with the consolation and championship games. Mount Saint Mary College will take on Vassar in the championship game beginning at 8:00 p.m. Vassar knocked off New Paltz in the other first round game, 69-58. Bard will take on New Paltz in the consolation game, tipping off at 6:00 p.m.