WASHINGTON – Everyone in Bender Arena on Saturday afternoon got an extra 10 minutes of basketball as Colgate and American played in a double overtime thriller.
 
The Raiders were ultimately on the short-end of the score, dropping a 71-69 decision to their hosts. The outcome handed Colgate its first conference loss of the year, shifting the Raiders to 3-1 on the season in league play.
 
In a game that was very much back-and-forth, with each team holding the lead over their opponent multiple times, the Raiders saw the Eagles convert on a layup with three seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
 
Colgate again had the two-point edge in the first overtime when Ethan Jacobs drained a trey with 51 seconds remaining. But the Eagles answered on the opposite end of the court with another layup to knot the game with 30 seconds remaining.
 
The Raiders then had a chance to win the contest on a Jacobs' 3-point attempt, but his shot bounced in and out with one-second left to send the game into a second five-minute overtime period.
 
American scored the first five points of the second overtime but an and-1 from Luke Roh pulled the Raiders within two with less than three minutes to play. After the Eagles hit a bucket to push the lead back to four, a Damon Sherman-Newsome free throw made it a one-possession game again.
 
Both teams exchanged buckets and with four seconds left and the Raiders were forced to foul. Two missed free throws from the hosts gave the Raiders life with 2.4 seconds left. Unfortunately, American kept the Raiders from finding a quality shot in the final seconds to secure itself the two-point victory.
 
Four Colgate players reached double-digits in the game with Matt McMullen leading the way with 14 points and 10 rebounds -- Colgate's first double-double of the season. Jacobs added 15 points, while Roh and Sherman-Newsome chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively.
 
The Raiders are back in action Wednesday when they host Boston University, which is also 3-1 in the league, at 7 p.m. That game will be broadcast live on Campus Insiders. 

Bottom Line
• American 71, Colgate 69 (2 OT)
 
Won-Lost Records
• American shifts to 9-7 overall and 2-2 in Patriot League play
• Colgate drops to 6-11 and 3-1, respectively.
 
Facts & Figures
• Jacobs scored a team-high 15 points to lead the Raiders. He also chipped in six rebounds, two assists, one block and two steals on the night.
• McMullen was also solid for the Raiders, adding a double-double with his 14 points and 10 rebounds. He went 6-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-5 from behind the arc for his points, while clearing up the defensive boards with all his rebounds.
• His 10 rebounds matched a career-high, first achieved against Navy on Jan. 26, 2013.
• Roh matched his season-best with 14 points, scoring all 14 in the second half. The senior pulled down four big offensive boards to go with his three defensive ones to finish with seven overall.
• The Scottsdale, Arizona, native also handed out a team-best four helpers during his 45 minutes of action.
• Sherman-Newsome had an off night from the floor but still was able to reach double-figures with 13 points. He went 2-of-14 overall but hit 2-of-6 from long and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.
• The Raiders finished the game shooting 40.4 percent from the floor, including 11-of-26 from downtown. American shot 47.2 percent overall and was 8-of-19 from beyond the arc.
• Colgate outscored its opponent 27-22 in the second half of play, but a 32-27 edge after the first period sent the teams into overtime tied at 54-all.
• The Raiders held the slight edge on rebounds at 35-33, while also dishing out 12 assists to the Eagles' 11.
• Colgate also had the advantage on blocks (3-2) and steals (7-4).
• American earned 26 points inside the paint compared to Colgate's 20, but the Raiders were able to convert 11 points off of second-chance opportunities.
• The Eagles were led by Jesse Reed's 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor. He also added 2-of-7 from behind the arc and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Charlie Jones tallied 14 points, while Pee Wee Gardner and John Schoof finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
• The game saw 10 ties and 13 lead changes.
• Colgate's largest lead of the game, at 18-12, happened after rookie Sean O'Brien drained a trey with eight minutes remaining in the opening half. American held a 38-29 edge, its largest of the contest, with 13:16 left when Kevin Panzer converted a jumper in the paint.
• The Raiders had the advantage for 18:07, while the hosts had the lead for 26:41. The game was tied for 5:12.

Game Recap
• The Raiders quickly jumped out to a 18-12 edge after O'Brien hit a 3-pointer to give Colgate its largest lead of the game with eight minutes left to play in the first half.
• A 6-0 run from the Eagles, however, erased any Raider advantage they had built.
• The game saw four more tie scores before the hosts finished the half on a 5-0 run to take a 32-27 edge into the break.
• American continued its strong play in the early parts of the second half, beginning on a 6-2 run to open its lead to nine-points at 38-29.
• Colgate would not go away, though, as the Raiders answered with 22-11 run to take over the lead by four with 18 seconds left to play. 
• American would hit a trey five seconds later to pull within one and then after the Raiders went 1-of-2 from the line, on the next play a layup from Gardner with three seconds left knotted the score.
• A back-and-forth first overtime period tied the contest for the 10th time, forcing a second extra five minutes with the game all square at 62-all.
• The Eagles hit the first two buckets of the second overtime to create a five-point spread between the teams. But an and-1 from Roh pulled the Raiders within two with less than three minutes to play.
• American would push its edge to four off a jumper, but two makes from Sherman-Newsome on the other end of the court kept it a one-possession game.
• The Raiders then forced the Eagles to use most of their shot clock as they were looking for a much-needed stop on defense, but a jumper from Marko Vasic pushed American's lead back to four.
• Roh then quickly converted for the Raiders on the other end of the court to give Colgate hope with four seconds left.
• A Colgate foul and then two misses from the free-throw line by the Eagles made for an exciting final 2.4 seconds of play.
• The Raiders inbounded the ball almost at half court and got it in, but the Eagles closed down the Colgate attack and didn't allow the Raiders to get a shot off to claim the exciting victory.  
 
Keeping An Eye On …
• Pat Moore, who is still within reach of breaking the 1,000-point barrier for his career. He currently sits with 875 points.
• Tillotson, who already has 81 season assists. He recorded 133 helpers a year ago during his first year with the Maroon and White to finish third all-time for a season.
• Roh, who currently sits with 298 career assists. He is 25 helpers shy of matching Alvin Reed '06 for fourth place all-time.

Interesting Notes
• Colgate's three-game winning streak was snapped with the loss.
• Also with the outcome, Colgate has now dropped nine of its 11 losses by seven or fewer points.   
• Sherman-Newsome recorded double-figures in the game with 13 points for the fourth consecutive game. He has hit double-digits in 15 of the Raiders 17 games so far this season.
• The only two games Sherman-Newsome missed that mark were contests in which he was injured during the game.
• Jacobs has hit double-figures in five straight games, while also leading Colgate in scoring in three of its last five games.
• In the last four games, the Raiders are shooting 51 percent from the floor and 48 percent from long.

From the Source
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: (On his overall thoughts from the game) "They're champions. Obviously their big three of (John) Schoof, (Jesse) Reed and (Pee Wee) Gardner have experienced everything it takes to win a championship. So the fact that they were one win and two losses coming into the game, you expect to get their best. Reed and Schoof were terrific in the first half. We had a number of miscues to be down and they extended the lead in the second half."
 
"We weren't surprised and I think we found our identity. Our guys have become a group of fighters who are committed to one another and in doing what it takes to win. I hope that what we learned from the game is that, in my mind, this was a championship atmosphere and that's kind of how our guys were approaching it. They were playing the champions. We learned a lot about ourselves and what it's going to take to be where we want to be at the end of league play in March."
 
(On four players reaching double-figures in the game, despite having some foul trouble) "It's the group that's been scoring for us. In Austin's absence from scoring, Matty (McMullen) steps up and Luke (Roh) gets to the basket. Every game is going to take on its own identity and our guys are starting to figure that out. We were just a little bit shy today. Damon's been carrying us in a lot of ways and he didn't have one of his best shooting performances. He had a couple where he got to the basket and normally finishes those tough layups and today he wasn't able to. He didn't get his bigger numbers that he typically does but we are right there. A couple shots and balls bounce our way and maybe even one loose ball rebound or defensive stop and we're feeling a lot different about the game."
 
(On how his team will rebound on Wednesday against a good Boston U. team) "You don't know. That's college athletics, as you don't know what the next game is going to bring. You hope and prepare that our guys can learn to make a couple more intelligent plays, make a few tougher plays, some more together plays that put you over the hump against a team that's in the same situation we are. They got off to a great start. They lost this afternoon and they will be wanting to stay atop of the table just like us. Every night in our league will prove to be a really closely contested game."

Up Next
• Colgate welcomes 3-1 Boston U. on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. contest in Cotterell Court.   
• The Terriers are coming off a 63-62 home setback to Lafayette on Wednesday.
• The Raiders and Eagles will go head-to-head for their 40th all-time meeting. Boston U. holds the 24-15 advantage.
• During last year's two regular season games the Terriers took both contests, with the last Colgate victory coming during the 1976-77 season when the Raiders recorded a 84-65 victory at home.