Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Colgate continued riding its winning streak with a big 74-57 victory at Lehigh to ensure itself a home game in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament, which starts Monday.
 
The Raiders secured the No. 7 spot in postseason play and host No. 10 Navy on Cotterell Court at 7 p.m.
 
"It's athletes and it's college athletes -- winning on the road is really hard regardless of how you're playing so it's the best case scenario that we are presented with," Colgate head coach Matt Langel said of his team earning a home game in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.
 
"To be able to have a chance to play on Cotterell Court again on Monday night, it was critical to try to put ourselves in a position to win."
 
Heading into Saturday's game against Lehigh, Colgate had a lot on its mind.
 
One of those things was revenge. These two teams have a lot of history and, unfortunately, it's been in favor of the Mountain Hawks for the past three years. Lehigh ended the Raiders' season each of the last two years while also winning six of the previous seven matchups. The Mountain Hawks also defeated Colgate after double overtime in Hamilton to kick off league play earlier in the year.
 
Now the Raiders don't have that bad taste in their mouths anymore, as Colgate soared to a 17-point win on Lehigh's senior day to end the regular season on a three-game winning streak.
 
In the last three games the Raiders outscored their opponents 241-183.
 
"We've played well enough, for long enough, to win games but we haven't made the plays necessary to win and now we are doing it," Langel said "The guys' will has grown through some difficult times, and sometimes that is what it takes to arrive. I'm hopeful, based on the last three games, that we have every right to believe we can beat anybody because we are playing well enough. That's what you need to do at this time of the year, so we will lace them up again on Monday and hopefully we can do the same thing again on both ends of the court."
 
Colgate (12-17, 6-12 PL) saw four players in double-digits with Damon Sherman-Newsome setting a career high with 28 points. The junior went 6-of-13 from the floor, 5-of-9 from behind the arc and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe for his game-high performance. Sherman-Newsome's five made baskets from long was also a career high.
 
Austin Tillotson recorded his seventh double-digit scoring game in the last 10 contests when he added 15 points to the Raiders total. He went 4-of-7 from the floor, while also handing out a team-high six assists and three steals. He now sits in fourth place in program history with 126 season assists, while being 14 shy of breaking the record of 139.
 
Ethan Jacobs and Luke Roh also posted double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Roh led the Raiders on the boards with nine rebounds, while Jacobs was a close second with seven. Roh also now has matched former Colgate standout and the Raiders current color analyst Pat Campolieta with 250 career assists to sit tied for eighth all-time after shelling out two in the game.
 
"Winning teams make shots at this time of the year, but I like that we have a couple difference guys who can make some shots," Langel added.
 
The Raiders shot 48 percent overall, making 25 of their 52 attempts. They went 8-of-21 from long for 38 percent shooting, while missing only four shots from the free throw line to finish the game shooting 80 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Lehigh (14-17, 7-11 PL) received a team-high performance from Jesse Chuku, who registered 17 points in the game after going 3-of-7 from long. Rookie Tim Kempton notched 14 points, while also pulling down 14 rebounds. Chuku earned a double-double as well with 11 rebounds.
 
Lehigh's leading scorer, Mackey McKnight, handed out a game-high seven assists but was held to only five points. All of those came in the final seven minutes of action.
 
A lot of that was due to Colgate's strong defensive presence. The Raiders held the Mountain Hawks to just 57 points in 40 minutes of basketball for their third-best defensive game of the year.
 
The Raiders jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to start the game but Lehigh responded to tie it at 9-9 with 15:27 left to play in the first.
 
Colgate then answered with a 15-0 run to take the lead 24-9 over the next four minutes. Tillotson had seven of those 15, while Sherman-Newsome added six.
 
From that point on, the Raiders held a comfortable double-digit lead throughout the remainder of the game.
 
The Mountain Hawks would get Colgate's advantage down to 10 at the 8:36 mark, but an 11-1 run for the Raiders created a 20-point margin that was the largest of the game.
 
Colgate registered 28 points inside the paint and converting 15 points off Lehigh turnovers.
 
The Raiders play Monday night when they host Navy at 7 p.m. on Cotterell Court in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.
 
Tickets for this game already are on sale and can be ordered by calling the Colgate Athletics Ticket Office at 315-228-7600. Tickets are free for students, while faculty and staff receive three free tickets to the game.