Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Colgate men's basketball team outscored first-place Bucknell in the second half but couldn't overcome the 11-point difference in the first, ultimately falling to the Bison 69-61 Wednesday night.

“Our second half was pretty good,” head coach Matt Langel said. “I thought we battled a lot more. We turned it over 12 times in the first half and had five offensive rebounds given up in the second half. But when you're playing against a guy like Mike Muscala and some of their other big guys, they have the ability to get in there and do that.

“We didn't turn it over in the second half, which really gives you a chance to be in the game. We made some shots, we got it inside and we got to the foul line a few more times than the opposition. That's probably the first time this year that we've been able to do that. That really allowed us to continue to fight and stay in the game, and I was proud of the guys for that.”

Colgate (9-17, 3-6 PL) outscored the Bison in the second half 38-35 and was led by junior transfer Murphy Burnatowski, who notched 23 points -- 19 of those coming in the second 20 minutes. With his 23 points, he grabbed his 22nd double-digit game this year. Burnatowski also led the Raiders on the boards with seven rebounds. Senior captain Mitch Rolls added 12 points for his fifth double-figure game this year.

“Murphy was in some foul trouble in the first half but he started the second half really hot,” Langel added “He got one or two open looks from three that might have been the difference if he had been able to get them down.

"But he really battled. He got himself deep in the paint and to the foul line, which helps him. He's much better when he's at 12 feet shooting those fade away jump shots than he is at 16 feet. We are going to need him every step of the way if we want to make a run here down the stretch.”

The Raiders outshot the Bison overall 47.8 percent to 47.5 percent, and shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half. During that period, the Raiders hit 13 of their 26 shots. Colgate also outrebounded the Bison 32-30 but shot only 26 percent from behind the arc, hitting only four of 15 attempts.

Bucknell (21-4, 8-1 PL) saw 34 of their 69 points come from in the paint. Muscala earned himself a double-double after he posted 27 points and 12 rebounds. Muscala's 12 boards in the game were enough to earn him his 1,000th rebound in a Bison uniform. He went 12-of-21 and was 3-of-5 from the charity stripe. Cameron Ayers went 5-of-9 for his 13 points, while Bryson Johnson knocked down three of his eight from behind the arc for 12 points.

The Bison converted 16 of their points off of Raiders turnovers, 12 of those coming in the first half. Colgate saw 12 turnovers in the first half but limited itself to only two in the second. The Bison hit 29 of their 61 shots for their 47.5 percent shooting from the floor. They also knocked down 5-of-15 from downtown, with three of those coming from Johnson.

Bucknell started the game on a 9-0 run to take the early lead. Ryan Hill knocked down two of the Bison's first four shots during that stretch. Burnatowski finally ended the drought with a jumper just underneath the three-point line to get the Raiders on the board at the 15:39 mark.

Clayton Graham pulled the Raiders to within three after he finished off a three-point play. Dom Hoffman put the Bison back up by five, but a Rolls' jumper on the other end of the court would yet again cut the lead to three at 15-12.

After a Johnson three-pointer gave Bucknell a six-point lead, senior Brandon James would answer for the Raiders with one of his own to make the score 18-15 midway through the first.

Throughout the remaining minutes, the Bison would extend their lead to as much as 12. Muscala hit a jumper in the paint to give the Bison their largest lead of the game, but a free throw by Rolls sent the teams into the locker room with an 11-point difference, 34-23.

Early in the second half, the Raiders went on a 4-2 run to cut the lead down to six. Burnatowski came out of the half hitting three of the Raiders' buckets during that time. Muscala ended the Colgate run with a dunk to push Bucknell back up by eight, but Burnatowski added one on the other end. Luke Roh found one of his six rebounds and quickly laid it off to Burnatowski, who dunked it home.

Pat Moore got the Raiders to within four after he drained a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 44-38 with under 15 minutes remaining in the game.

Johnson hit another 3-pointer to increase the lead back to seven at 47-40, but a fade-away by Burnatowski got the Raiders' deficit back down to four.

The Bison saw their lead cut to two after a Burnatowski jumper in the paint. But Muscala answered to extend Bucknell's lead back up to four, 51-47, with under eight minutes to play. Muscala would grab 14 of the Bison's final 20 points.

Bucknell's Cameron Ayres created an eight-point difference after a made jumper, but four quick points by the Raiders cut their deficit down to four at 62-58 with only 2:17 remaining. That would be the closest Colgate would come, however, as the Bison sealed their win by grabbing their last five points from the charity stripe.

“Unfortunately we've been a tale of two teams,” Langel said. “When our best team shows up, and it was the second half today, then we can compete with anybody in the League. But when we don't, anybody in our league can beat us. Hopefully, our guys are feeling that urgency of the season coming down to wire and we are focused every day in practice in preparation for the games to get out there and compete against whomever it is we are playing.”

The Raiders face the other first-place team in the Patriot League when Lehigh comes to town Saturday. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. tip and can be watched live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.