Box Score

EASTON, Pa. – Matt McMullen scored a season high 10 points as the Colgate men's basketball team fell to the Leopards of Lafayette 69-40 Wednesday night at the Kirby Sports Center.

“The offensive never got going,” head coach Matt Langel said. “Our offensive hurt us on the defensive end because we didn't work to get good shots. We didn't get a lot of good looks as much as we like to get, and they made their shots down on the other end of the floor. They are a team that when you make a mistake they are really going to make you pay.”

Colgate (8-14, 2-4 PL) was led by McMullen, who grabbed 10 points and seven boards for the game. McMullen went 3-of-7 from the floor and hit three of his five from the charity stripe. The last time McMullen reached double digits was against Lafayette a year ago when he grabbed a career high 14-points. Pat Moore added seven to the Colgate total, while sophomore Luke Roh went 2-of-4 from the floor earning him six points. Tied with McMullen to lead the team in rebounding was Clayton Graham, who also pulled down seven boards.

“We can't settle to shoot guarded shots, especially on the road," Langel said. "We are a team that is still trying to figure that out. We are relatively young in the development of our program and we are a group that is still trying to figure out an overall identity."

Overall, the Raiders shot 30 percent from the floor, hitting 15 of their 50 shots. The second half showed more promises for Colgate as they lifted their shooting percentage from 20.8 to 38.5.

Lafayette (11-12, 4-2 PL) saw three players reach double digits in the game. Led by Seth Hinrichs with 24 points and seven boards, the Leopards managed to shoot 50 percent from the floor and earn themselves their third straight conference win. Both Dan Trist and Joey Ptasinski grabbed 12 points in the win to aid the Leopards scoring. Hinrichs was also 5-of-7 from downtown, making those shots at pivotal moments. The Leopards outrebounded the Raiders 34-32 and scored 19 points off Raiders turnovers.

The game started out with both teams playing very defensive basketball. The first bucket came three minutes into the contest after Trist hit a jumper in the paint. Moore knocked in the Raiders' first basket to tie the game at 2-all. Throughout the first 20 minutes, there were two lead changes and three ties.

Lafayette hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded for halftime to take a 17-point lead, 35-17, heading into the locker room. Ptasinski's made 3-pointer gave him 10 points in the first half to lead all scorers.

Hinrichs hit two of his five 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half to extend Lafayette's lead to it's largest of the night at that time, 23 points. Roh finally got the Raiders off 17 when he hit a jumper from deep in the corner to make the score 40-19.

Colgate got a few stops on the defensive end to pull to within 15, 45-30. The Raiders scored four straight baskets; two of them by senior Mitch Rolls. Lafayette fired back, going on an 11-0 run to push its lead to 58-30. Chad Johnson finally ended the Raiders drought with a back cut layup for two.

As much as Colgate tried to rally, the Leopards used their 54-percent shooting in the second half to put the Raiders away. Throughout the game, Lafayette hit 10 3-pointers to Colgate's three, which ultimately sealed the win.

The Raiders look to bounce back from their lowest scoring game this season with a home matchup against Holy Cross on Saturday. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be watched live on Patriot League All-Access.