Box Score

NEW YORK CITY – Colgate head coach Matt Langel sees his team moving in the right direction, but he also watched Columbia make a few more plays down the stretch and emerge with a 66-59 victory here Thursday night.

Columbia's second-half shooting from long range proved decisive as the Lions were 6-of-13 on 3-point attempts after intermission and 9-of-21 for the game. Grant Mullins and Steve Frankowski threw in three bombs apiece, and Noah Springwater added another pair for the winning Lions, who improved to 7-5.

But it was point guard Brian Barbour's direction of the offense that drew the most attention from Colgate's head coach.

“Brian Barbour is a terrific player,” Langel said. “I watch the Ivy League closely and he's playing as well as anybody in their league. So our defense had to help on him, which opened up some other guys and some of our rotations were a little too late.

“(Noah) Springwater hasn't played in half their games and he stepped up and made two threes in the second half. But I give their coach, Kyle Smith, a lot of credit, and obviously Brian Barbour is a terrific player.”

Quick-Start Raiders
Colgate started strong in both halves. The Raiders opened with a pair of threes and led 8-4 before allowing a 10-point Columbia run that made it 14-8 with 13:04 on the clock. The Lions led by as many as nine at 21-12 and 25-16 before Colgate finished the half on an 11-4 streak to make it a very respectable 30-27 at the break.

Colgate shot just 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from the field for the first half and made just 3-of-10 from long range.

But Colgate carried its closing hot streak over into the second half as the Raiders scored the period's first nine points to grab a 36-30 advantage on Mitch Rolls' layin with 17:49 remaining. It was still 42-37 when Columbia reeled off an 11-2 run to regain control at 48-44 on Barbour's hoop with 9:06 to play.

“Basketball is a game of lulls, for sure, and then there are other times where you come out on fire like the beginning of our second half,” Langel said. “You know those swings are going to happen, but what you've got to do is lengthen the swings when they are going in and make great decisions. And when they're not going in, you've really got to make the defense work and get some easier ones to get yourself going again.”

Murphy Burnatowski's jumper with 3:36 left pulled the Raiders within 58-56. But that was Colgate's last field goal of the game, and Columbia limited the visitors to just three points the rest of the way.

“We had a couple of turnovers – one on the baseline and one in transition,” Langel said of the stretch drive. “We had a couple of good looks at the basket, and when you're on the road you've got to step up and have those balls go in. Then you've got a chance to win the game.

“But again, I credit Columbia and their coaching staff and specifically Brian Barbour for finding a way to win the game.”

Learning Process
Eight of Colgate's 13 turnovers came in the second half, while Columbia committed just seven for the game.

“That's all part of our learning process, and I was encouraged by some of the progress we made tonight,” Langel said. “Obviously I'm disappointed that we made too many mistakes to win the game, but overall I'm encouraged with our play.”

Columbia improved to 7-5 for the season, including a victory earlier this season at Villanova.

Colgate was led by 13 points apiece from Murphy Burnatowski, John Brandenburg and Pat Moore. Brian Barbour and Grant Mullins claimed game-high honors with 15 points each for Columbia, which won at Villanova earlier this year.

Brandenburg credited instincts for his ability to get to the basket against the lanky Lions.

“When the opposing team has a bigger lineup, I sometimes do better,” he said. “I don't know why, but the height matchup I can kind of exploit. I'm not quick, but I'm a little quicker than other big guys and I can use that to my advantage. I was able to get by some of their guys and draw some fouls.

“But I still need to improve a lot on offense – finish some layups – and get some more rebounds and we'll be in a lot better shape.”

The senior from St. Louis also sees progress heading into the upcoming Patriot League schedule.

“Tonight is disappointing on the heels of our little winning streak we had, losing on the road,” Brandenburg said. “This really was a big game for us. But this team is right where we need to be going into league play.”

Colgate, now 5-10, missed a chance for its first three-game winning streak since January 2010, and Wednesday's game marked the second year in a row Columbia defeated Colgate by a 66-59 count.

Colgate travels to Dartmouth on Saturday for a 7 p.m. start.