There is a common thread that permeates the Colgate University's men's basketball roster: perseverance — players that never gave up, even after losing seven out of their first eight and 10 of their first 13 games of the season, is why the Raiders can be found atop the Patriot League standings heading into the February home stretch.

That perseverance is a characteristic embodied by senior center Ethan Jacobs, who, despite struggles throughout much of his early career, has emerged as one of the league's best centers and an irreplaceable part of Colgate's roster.

Born in tiny Mora, Minn., and raised in an agricultural community in Tipton, Indiana, Jacobs' journey to Colgate, featuring a layover at Ohio University, was a long and winding road, one that he traveled with a basketball under his arm and a skateboard under his sneakers.

"I was a kid that always skateboarded," said Jacobs of his childhood in Tipton, a tiny city of about 5,000 residents that sits roughly 36 miles from Indianapolis. Only two an a half square miles in size, life in Tipton is slow, other than the three-day Pork Festival held Thursday through Saturday proceeding every labor day.

Growing up, Jacobs didn't have any interest in hoops, preferring to spend his time riding around town as opposed to cramped inside a stuffy, sweaty gym. But after a growth spurt pushed him to 6'1" in the sixth grade, he decided to try out for his middle school team.

He was cut.

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