HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/1/08) – Senior forward Kendall Chones (Cleveland, OH) scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Colgate to a 73-62 Patriot League win over Navy in the final regular season game for both teams.

 

For Chones it was his fifth career double-double as he tied his career-high for points and set a new standard for rebounding.

 

Colgate (16-13, PL 7-7) defeats the Midshipmen (16-13, PL 9-5) for the seventh straight time and finishes third in the final Patriot League standings while Navy placed second.  The Raiders’ 16 wins is the most since the 2001-02 season.

 

The Raiders will host Lafayette College on Wednesday night (March 5) in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament.  The Leopards finished sixth in the standings with an overall mark of 15-14 and league record of 6-8.

 

Other Colgate players in double figures were Tim Pounds (Dudley, NC) and Kyle Roemer (Martinez, CA) with 12 points apiece, while Alex Woodhouse (Alexandria, VA) managed seven points and seven rebounds and freshman Mike Venezia (Westfield, NJ) scored nine points.  Navy was lead by Greg Sprink with 19 points, while Kaleo Kina tallied 17 and Chris Harris 14.

 

Colgate jumped out to an early 12-9 lead over the Midshipmen, before Navy tallied seven straight points to move in front 16-12 with 9:55 remaining in the first half.  Later in the opening 20 minutes, Colgate fell behind by 10 points before scoring five straight points to cut the deficit in half at the intermission, 32-27.

 

In the second half, Navy tallied the first basket, but Colgate responded with 10 straight points for a 37-34 lead with 16:21 left.  The decisive run was fueled by Pounds with six points and a thunder dunk by Woodhouse.  The Raiders would extend their advantage to 45-39 with 13:23 remaining as they outscored Navy 18-7 to start the second half.  The closest Navy would come the rest of the way was three points with 8:42 left.

 

Colgate shot 45 percent for the game, after managing only 38 percent in the first half, while holding Navy to 33 percent from the field and 18 percent from 3-point range (6-of-33).

 

Tickets for Wednesday quarterfinal round game against Lafayette go on sale Monday (315-228-7600).