HAMILTON, N.Y. (1/16/08) – Bilal Abdullah scored a game-high 18 points including the game-winning basket with 3.5 seconds left in overtime to lift Lafayette to a 69-68 win Colgate Wednesday night in a Patriot League game at Cotterell Court.
Lafayette, which wins for the third straight season on Colgate’s home floor, improved to 11-6 overall and 2-0 in the league, while Colgate fell to 9-7 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Other top scorers for Lafayette were Andrew Brown with 13 points and Matt Betley with nine. Colgate was led by
Kyle Roemer (Martinez, CA) and
Daniel Waddy (Tucson, AZ) with 16 points apiece.
Kendall Chones (Cleveland, OH) had nine points and seven rebounds, while
Peter Minchella (West Lafayette, IN) added eight points and five rebounds for the Raiders.
In overtime, Colgate scored the first basket before Lafayette tallied six straight for a 65-61 lead. Waddy nailed a 3-pointer and Minchella made two free throws with 1:52 left to give Colgate a 66-65 lead. Brown made two free throws with one minute remaining to put the visitors back in front, 67-66, before Minchella hit two more free throws for a 68-67 with 22 seconds left. Lafayette came down the court, and Michael Gruner missed a layup, but Abdullah went high to tip in the rebound for the winning score.
Colgate jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the first half, before Lafayette rallied to tie the contest 16-16 with 11:39 remaining. The Raiders regained a 3-point lead 19-16 on Minchella’s old-fashion 3-point play. With Colgate leading, 23-22, the Leopards scored on a basket by Jeff Kari to take the lead before extending its advantage to 32-25 at halftime.
In the second half, Colgate fell behind by as many as 10 points, 57-47, with 6:08 remaining. The Raiders, however, scored eight straight points to trail by two with 2:51 left. Lafayette continued to lead by two points, 59-57, with 38 seconds left before Colgate sent the game into overtime on Chones’ layup with one second left.
Colgate continues Patriot League play on Saturday at American University.
