HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/5/08) - Junior guard Kyle Roemer (Martinez, CA) scored a career-high 32 points to lead Colgate to a thrilling 76-74 victory over Lafayette in Patriot League Men’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals at Cotterell Court Wednesday night. The Raiders (17-13) advance to the semifinal round for the first time since 2004 and will host Bucknell on Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m.

 

Bucknell advanced to the semifinal round with an 87-86 triple overtime victory over second seeded Navy at Annapolis.

 

The other semifinal game will feature top-seeded American at home against Army.  The Eagles edged Holy Cross 62-60, while Army defeated Lehigh 64-61 in overtime.

 

Colgate head coach Emmett Davis ties the all-time record for wins by a Raider men’s basketball coach with 137 career victories.  Roemer’s 32 points is the most by a Colgate player since Marc Linebaugh had 35 against Holy Cross in 2003.

He made 11-of-16 from the field, three 3-pointers and was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

 

Bilal Abdullah led all Lafayette (15-15) scorers with 23 points.  Kendall Chones (Cleveland, OH) added 11 points for the Raiders and pulled down a game-high six rebounds, while Ben Jonson (Dallas, TX) and Alex Woodhouse (Alexandria, VA) had eight points apiece.

 

Colgate held a 17-point lead with 6:31 remaining, and then had to hold off a furious charge by the Leopards for the two-point win.  Lafayette had beaten Colgate three straight times at Cotterell Court.  The Leopards would score 11 straight points over the next three minutes before Colgate ended the run with a free throw by Jonson with 3:48 left.

 

Lafayette continued to put pressure on the Raiders with six more points to cut the lead to 75-74 with 30 seconds remaining.  Then with 29 seconds left, Chones made 1-of-2 foul shots to give the Raiders a two-point advantage.  After Lafayette called timeout with 16 seconds left, Matt Betley missed a three-pointer with three seconds left and Woodhouse grabbed the rebound for the Raiders.

 

In the first half, Colgate fell behind by as many as five points before coming back for a 38-31 halftime lead.  The Raiders are 11-4 when leading at the intermission.

 

Colgate shot 49 percent from the field, and 50 percent from 3-point range, while Lafayette managed 46 percent, and 47 from behind the arc.  The Raiders edged Lafayette on the boards, 34-31.