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HAMILTON – A sizzling second-half turnaround lifted Colgate to a 77-70 victory over Lafayette here Wednesday in the Patriot League opener for both teams.
 
Austin Tillotson sank two free throws with 4:29 remaining to hand the Raiders their first lead at 63-61 and cap a 12-2 run.
 
Lafayette led by as many as 13 points in the first half and the Leopards still were in front 59-51 just under the 8-minute mark. But Colgate finished the game on a 26-11 blitz as Tillotson scored seven of his 16 points during that final stretch.
 
Dave Krmpotich paced the Raiders with a career-high 17 points, and he tied for team honors with five rebounds. Two other Raiders reached twin figures with 13 from Sean O'Brien and 12 from Jordan Swopshire.
 
Rookie Malcolm Regisford also pulled down five boards, while Tillotson handed out six assists in his 37 minutes of action.
 
Colgate sparked its comeback by holding Lafayette scoreless from behind-the-arc (0-of-12) in the second 20 minutes after allowing the Leopards to hit 7-of-14 in the first half of play.
 
The Raiders are on the road for their next two contests at American and Holy Cross. Colgate meets American on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tilt before traveling to Worcester, Massachusetts for a matchup with the Crusaders on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.

Bottom Line
• Colgate 77, Lafayette 70
• The Raiders won their Patriot League opener for the second straight season
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improves to 5-7 overall and 1-0 in Patriot League play
• Lafayette dips to 3-9 and 0-1, respectively
 
How It Happened
• The Leopards jumped out to the 5-0 lead early after two quick buckets from Bryce Scott.
• The Raiders then settled in, making it a 5-4 ballgame, but another Lafayette run created a 10-point gap between the teams with 14:42 left to play in the opening period. That 11-0 run was sparked by three Leopard 3-pointers.
• Lafayette increased its edge to the largest of the half at 13, on two different occasions. Its latest coming after a jumper from Tyler Barlow handed the visitors a 31-18 advantage at the 5:19 mark.
• Two free throws from Swopshire would get the deficit down to 35-29 with a little over two minutes remaining but again the Leopards finished the half on a small run to take a 40-32 lead into the break.
• The beginning of the second half was much like the first and Lafayette quickly held a 46-34 edge three minutes in.
• Colgate would not waver though. The Raiders responded with an 11-3 run to cut the advantage down to 48-45 with a little more than 14 minutes to play.
• The teams exchanged buckets over the next 4 and ½ minutes until Colgate rallied for its most important run of the game.
• With the Leopards leading 59-51 at the 7:56 mark, the Raiders strung together a 12-2 run, which gave them their first edge in the game.
• Lafayette's Monty Boykins tied things up at 63-all and after back-to-back misses from Colgate the Leopards were on track to break the deadlock. But a huge steal and layup from Tillotson ultimately handed the Raiders the lead for good.
• The Leopards pulled as close as 69-66 in the final 1:23 but they would get no further as Colgate finished the game going 5-for-6 from the line to secure the win.
 
Facts & Figures
• Krmpotich reached double-digits for just the third time this season with his team-leading 17 points.  
• He went 6-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-8 from the line, while adding five rebounds and a block and steal to his already impressive night.
• Tillotson was close behind with 16 points and dished out a game-high six assists to go along with his two steals.
• O'Brien and Swopshire also reached double-figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
• O'Brien went 3-for-5 from downtown, while Swopshire was solid at the line hitting all six of his free throw attempts.
• Colgate finished the game shooting 46.2 percent from the floor. The Raiders hit five treys throughout the game and drained 24 of their 32 shots from the charity stripe.
• A big difference in the game proved to be points off turnovers in which Colgate held the 19-9 edge.
• The Raider bench also outscored their visitor 28-17, but the Leopards notched 12 points off of second chance opportunities to Colgate's six.
• Lafayette held the lead for 34:44 minutes, while the Raiders were in front for just 3:47. Colgate took its first lead of the game with 4:21 remaining.
• There were two tie scores and one lead change throughout the contest.
• The Leopards had their largest edge at 13, twice in the game, both coming in the opening period. The Raiders created their largest margin at nine, following a good free throw from Alex Ramon with 21 seconds remaining.  
 
Key Info
• Tillotson and Swopshire earned their second straight double-digit scoring night. Tillotson's 16 points marked the eighth time the senior has reached double-figures, while it was Swopshire's seventh.
• With his six helpers in the game, Tillotson is now in sole possession of fifth all-time in Colgate's career records book with 328, surpassing Alvin Reed '06.
• The senior is also creeping closer to reaching 1,000 career points in his three-year tenure at Colgate. He sits just 107 shy of that feat.
• The four Raiders in double-figures marked the fourth time this season Colgate achieved that accomplishment.
 
Lafayette's Numbers
• The Leopards were led by two players who combined for 41 of Lafayette's final 70 points. Scott reached a game-high 21 points, while Nick Lindner compiled 20.  
• Ben Freeland pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
• Lindner handed out four assists to go along with Boykins' two steals.
• Lafayette finished the game shooting 42.9 percent from the floor. The Leopards also hit seven from long range but all came in the opening period. Lafayette converted on nine of their 13 free throw attempts.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Colgate's Cotterell Court was 722.

Straight From The Source
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: (on his team winning their Patriot League opener) "Winning certainly beats the alternative. We grew up a lot tonight. We had a couple guys with experience of what it takes but even when you're playing with some younger and inexperienced guys that first half showed that you really have got to be ready. It's hard to win any game, especially conference games. We got our legs underneath us and made some timely shots in the second half.
 
"I really think our defensive effort picked us up. (Bryce) Scott and (Nick) Lindner are fantastic players. They are as good of a backcourt as there is in our league. And they were just way to comfortable in the first half. We took some pride in the second half and defended them with a team emphasis.
 
"It was a long uphill battle to get back in the second half but we did it and hopefully we grew up in the process."
                                                                 
Next Up
• Colgate heads south to Washington, D.C., for a matchup with American on Sunday at 2 p.m.
• The Eagles dropped at 75-67 decision at Loyola on Wednesday.
• Live stats and video will be available at the start.  

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