HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/9/08) – Kyle Roemer (Martinez, CA) tallied 25 points to lift Colgate to a 54-40 victory over Bucknell in the semifinal round of the 2008 Patriot League Men’s Basketball Tournament at Cotterell Court.  The Raiders (18-13) advances to the championship game for the first time since the 1996 season, when they won the second of their three straight championship appearances.

 

Colgate will play for the championship on Friday, March 14 at top-seeded American University in Washington, D.C.  The game will be carried live on ESPN2 at 4:45 p.m.

The Eagles advanced to the title game with a 72-60 win over Army.

 

Colgate wins its sixth straight game to tie the school record for victories in a season with 18.  It is the Raiders’ longest winning streak since the 1996-97 campaign.  The victory established Colgate head coach Emmett Davis as the winningest coach in school history with 138 wins.

 

Roemer, who has scored 57 points in two playoff games, received scoring help from senior Kendall Chones (Cleveland, OH), who tallied 11 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Raiders.  Alex Woodhouse (Alexandria, VA) finished with six points and five rebounds despite missing the majority of the first half while in foul trouble.

 

Bucknell was led in scoring by Justin Castleberry with 12 points and Darren Mastropaolo with 11 points and six boards.  The Raider defense held Bucknell’s leading scorer John Griffin to three free throws.

 

The Raider defense frustrated Bucknell (12-19) in the opening 20 minutes, forcing the Bison into 14 turnovers.  Bucknell shot just 23.1 percent from the floor and did not make a single three-pointer in scoring only 10 points in the first half.

 

Colgate on the other hand had just one turnover in the first half and shot 48 percent from the floor and 50 percent from long range. Roemer had 11 points to lead all scorers at the half.

 

Bucknell came roaring back in the second half and held the Raiders to just six points in the first 10 minutes to cut the lead to nine, 31-22. The Bison continued to chip away and cut the game to four, the closest they had been since it was 4-1, at the 6:23 mark.

 

Bucknell continued to pressure the Raiders, but Colgate held off the furious charge in the final four minutes. Leading by four, 39-35, with 3:23 left on the clock, Chones knocked down one of two free throws to make it 40-35 with 2:41 remaining. Colgate was just 3-of-10 from the free throw line before the Raiders knocked down 11-13 from the charity stripe in the final 2:41 and 6-of-6 in the closing 50 seconds to secure the 14-point victory.

 

Bucknell never led in the game and finished with 22 turnovers and shot 37.8 percent from the floor.  Bucknell’s 10 points at halftime was their lowest output of the season.  Colgate had just eight turnovers in the game and got 19 points off of turnovers.

 

GAME NOTES: Colgate snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Bison … Roemer has been in double figures in 14 straight games, while Chones has a streak of 11 straight games … The Raiders are 12-4 when leading at halftime this season … Roemer is three in career 3-pointers made with 188 and he becomes the 11^th player in school history to score over 500 points in a season (502).