Box Score            Photo Gallery

HAMILTON, N.Y. (12/19/11) – Senior forward Sterling Melville made two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime as the Colgate men's basketball team topped Dartmouth 61-55 Monday night at Cotterell Court. The win extended the Raiders winning streak to four-straight at home, which is the most since the 2000-01 season.

The Raiders trailed 48-45 with 3.5 seconds left in regulation, when Dartmouth decided to foul Mitch Rolls instead of letting him attempt a three-pointer to tie the game. Rolls made the first attempt to make it a two-point game, before intentionally missing the second. Melville then grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled in the act of shooting sending him to the charity stripe where he made both to force overtime.

Colgate (5-5) then scored the first four points in overtime, including a three-point play the old fashion way from senior Nick Pascale, and never looked back. The Raiders led by as much as seven 59-52, before Mack McKearney made a three-pointer in the closing seconds and Rolls drained two free throws to make the final 61-55.

Senior forward Yaw Gyawu led the Raiders with game-high 16 points, while Melville pitched in nine and Mike Venezia added eight. Melville also led the team with eight rebounds, while Pascale, Venezia and Pat Moore each grabbed seven.

Colgate started hot from the field making three of its first four shots to open an early 7-0 lead with 16:36 remaining. The Raiders would cool down a little bit but still extend their lead to 14-6 with 8:29 left. But then Colgate got really cold as the Big Green put together an 11-2 run over the next five minutes capped off by a three-pointer from Tyler Melville to take its first lead of the game 17-16. Dartmouth would extend its lead to 23-18 with just over a minute remaining, before Rolls drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to make the score 23-21 as both team entered their locker rooms.

Dartmouth (3-8) opened the second half with an 8-2 run to claim its largest lead of the game 31-23 with 16:06 remaining in regulation. The Raiders would then respond with a 12-4 run to tie the game 35-35 with 9:35 left, but couldn't take the lead as the Big Green score the next four points. Colgate tied the score again 39-39 with just under six minutes remaining. Dartmouth would regain a three-point lead that it would carry with it until the closing seconds.

Dartmouth was led by Jvonte Brooks who finished with a double-double 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Jabari Trotter scored 11 and R.J. Griffin finished with nine.

Colgate won the battle on the boards 46-36 and held the Big Green to a season low 27.1 field goal percentage. But the Raiders didn't shoot much better by only making 38.3 percent of their shots and turned the ball over 14 times.

Colgate will travel to Hofstra on Thursday, Dec. 22. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Mack Sports Complex.