Box Score

VESTAL, N.Y. (11/12/11) - The Colgate men's basketball team won its season opener for the first time in three years after topping Binghamton 78-74 Saturday night in a packed house at the Events Center. The Raiders led by as much 18 early in the second half and then made crucial free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Senior guard Mike Venezia led the Raiders with 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while classmate Sterling Melville scored a career-high 17 points. Juniors Brandon James and Mitch Rolls scored nine points apiece, while John Brandenburg recorded a game-high 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. James also grabbed nine rebounds on the night for the Raiders.

Colgate (1-0) scored the first five points of the game as Rolls made two free throws and three pointer before the Bearcats were on the board. The Raiders would hold the lead until Ben Dickson hit a three-pointer with 14:17 remaining in the half to give Binghamton an 11-10 lead. Colgate would respond with a 9-1 run and never look back as it would extend its lead to as much as 13 in the first half, before both team went into the locker rooms. The bearcats had cut the Colgate lead to single-digits, 36-27, with nine seconds remaining, before Melville drained a three pointer as time expired to give the Raiders a 39-27 halftime lead. 

Colgate opened the second half with an 8-2 run to build its largest lead of the game 47-29 with 17:52 remaining. But Binghamton answered back with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to trim the Raiders lead to 47-37. Both teams would exchange baskets for the next 10 minutes before the Bearcats went on a 9-4 run to make the score 73-69 with 1:25 remaining. But the Raiders made five of its final eight free throw attempts, including two by James in the closing seconds to give Colgate a 76-72, before Robert Mansell made a layup to end the game.

Binghamton (0-1) was led by Dickson who scored a game-high 27 points, while Mansell pitched in 24. The Bearcats were able to climb back into the game after making 21-of-27 shots from the charity stripe, in the second half alone.

Colgate shot 49 percent from the field and out rebounded the Bearcats 43-41 to claim it first season opening win since topping Central Connecticut 58-57 in 2008.

The Raiders will continue their road trip as they head to Wisconsin to face the Badgers on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at the Kohls Center. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. EST and can be seen live on ESPN3.

GAME NOTES: Colgate head coach Matt Langel won his debut with the Raiders … Langel is just the fifth coach is school history to win his first game and the first since Howard Hartman led Colgate past St. Lawrence in 1949 … John Brandenburg was the first Raider to record three or more blocked shots and 10 or more rebounds in a season opener since Alex Woodhouse did in 2007 … Colgate is now 7-2 all-time against Binghamton … The Raiders also improved to 61-51 all-time in season openers.