POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - There were those who said it could take years for Bard College to win a conference game as a new member of the Liberty League. In any sport.

In men's basketball, it took one game.

Playing in its first-ever Liberty League game, Bard stunned regional foe Vassar, 59-57, on Tuesday night. Bard senior Matt Shubert made a pair of free throws with three seconds left to break a tie, and a half-court shot from Vassar's Jon Herzog at the buzzer bounded away, kicking off the celebration for the Raptors.

This was Bard's first win over Vassar since Feb. 15, 1995. The Brewers had won 12 straight since then.

"I told the guys after the game that I'm not going to downplay a win like this," head coach Adam Turner said. "It's really important. It's the school's first Liberty League win in anything ... and it was against Vassar, and we've kind of been in Vassar's shadow athletically for about the last 20 years. In a way it kind of puts our program on the map.

"At the same time," Turner continued, "it has to be treated like a stepping stone for the program. We have a ton of games left this year, and hopefully this is just a starting point for us."

Bard, 3-6 overall and 1-0 in the Liberty League, led for most of the game, including by four at halftime, and by 11 with about seven minutes left. But Vassar (5-6, 1-2) started making three-pointers and chipped away, eventually tying the game at 57-57 on a three-pointer by Herzog with 27 seconds left.

Turner used  a time out and called a play designed to run the clock down to 10 seconds, then get it in Shubert's hands.

"Matt actually made a twisting, arching shot on the baseline that went in, but they called the foul on the floor," Turner said.

Shubert's foul shots were his 26th and 27th points of the game - a career high for him. It was also Shubert's first game this season, since he entered his senior year with only one semester of NCAA eligibility remaining.

"Matt took his game to another level in the second semester last year, averaging about 21 points per game over our last 10 games," Turner said. "I'm so proud of him. He handled this all so well. He's the kind of guy who's hungry to get better, and who works out every day. He's like a lot of guys we have on this team. He was under-recruited, and we all kind of play with that edge."

Shubert finished with 27 points and four assists. Freshman Siondueh Burnette had a monster game, producing 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting and nine rebounds. But Burnette fouled out with 4:11 remaining, forcing another freshman, Jose Canario, into some key minutes down the stretch.

Canario had six points, five rebounds and a crucial block in just nine minutes of action in his first-ever college game.

"He has come back with a vengeance in practice over the last 10 days or so," Turner said, referring to Canario. "He's got great size and he can rebound. I'm very excited about him."

Vassar's Johnny Mrlik (San Francisco, CA) spurred the Brewers' rally, scoring 17 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. But Bard held them off, and up next are a pair of Liberty League games - at Skidmore on Friday night, and at Union on Saturday afternoon.

"Yesterday I was reading comments posted in forums about Bard joining the Liberty League, and how it was going to take two years for us to win a game," Turner said. "All that stuff just fueled our fire.

"We didn't play the cleanest game," Turner added, "and we didn't play our most efficient game. But we played really hard and battled them for 40 minutes."