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HAMILTON – No miracle comeback this time, Navy.
 
Colgate placed five in double-figures and advanced to its first Patriot League Tournament Semifinal since 2009 and 12th overall with a 72-62 win over the Midshipmen here Thursday night.
 
A raucous Cotterell Court crowd saw Matt McMullen lead the way with 18 points and 15 rebounds -- his third double-double of the season. Luke Roh and Ethan Jacobs scored 14, Alex Ramon 13, and Damon Sherman-Newsome 11, to boost the Raiders.
 
Colgate pulled itself to the .500 mark for the first time all season at 16-16 and are now 7-0 all-time at home in the Patriot League Tournament.
 
The second-seeded Raiders have won four of their last five games and six of eight heading into Sunday's semifinal showdown with American.
 
The sixth-seeded Eagles pulled a 66-62 upset at Lehigh to advance to Sunday's 4 p.m. start on Cotterell Court.
 
Navy (13-19) was led by Tilman Dunbar, who posted 17 points and two assists. First-year Bryce Dulin added 16 points to the Mids' final total, while senior Worth Smith pulled down eight boards.
 
Back on Feb. 14, Navy rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final minute and change to stun the Raiders 70-69 on Cotterell Court. But Colgate held its poise and never let the Mids draw closer than six points in the final 90 seconds of Thursday's game.
 
It was a five-point contest at the break but a 9-2 Raider run in the opening four minutes of the second half gave Colgate the 36-24 edge.
 
The Raiders held a comfortable lead and were ahead at 61-50 with 2:56 remaining. The Mids, however, went on a 5-0 run to make it a 61-55 ballgame with less than 90 ticks on the clock. After Navy was forced to start fouling in hopes of missed free throws, the Raiders finished the game from the charity stripe hitting 11-of-14 down the stretch.
 
Colgate shot 52.5 percent from the floor to go along with its 5-of-14 makes from 3-point range. The Raiders also converted on a season-high 25 free throws and finished shooting 75.8 percent from the line. Navy finished the night shooting 45.1 percent and hit 4-of-14 shots from behind the arc. The Mids also went 12-of-21 from the free throw line.
 
Colgate is now 5-2 all-time in the league tournament against Navy, including a 3-0 mark in the quarterfinals.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 72, Navy 62
• The Raiders are now 5-2 all-time in the Patriot League Tournament against Navy, with a 3-0 mark in the quarterfinals.
• Colgate grabs its first quarterfinal victory since the 2009 season when they also ironically beat the Mids as well.
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improves to 16-16 on the season.
• Navy closes out its year with a 13-19 mark.   
• Colgate has now hit the .500 mark on the season for the first time all year.
• With Thursday's victory the Raiders continue their best season in the Matt Langel era, while posting their best mark overall since Colgate went 18-14 during the 2007-08 season.  
 
Facts & Figures
• McMullen led all scorers with game-highs of 18 points and 15 rebounds. Four of those 15 boards came on the offensive glass, which was also a game-high.  
• He went 4-of-7 from the floor and 1-of-3 from behind the arc, but what was most impressive were his 9-for-10 makes from the free throw line, which was a career-best.
• The Brick, New Jersey, native also tallied a game-high two steals in his 37 minutes as well.  
• Roh and Jacobs both reached double-digits with 14 points. Roh went 6-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the line, while Jacobs finished hitting 4-of-8 overall, 1-of-3 from long-range and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
• Jacobs continued his double-digit scoring streak and shifted his number to seven straight.
• Ramon earned a career-high 13 points in the contest after he went 4-of-5 from the floor, 2-of-2 from downtown and 3-of-4 from the line.
• The junior also pulled down three boards in his career-tying 22 minutes coming off the bench for the Raiders.
• Closing out the Colgate players in double-digit scoring was Sherman-Newsome, who grabbed 11 points.
• The Anchorage, Alaska, native has now hit double-figure scoring in 27 of the Raiders 32 games.
• Junior Austin Tillotson handed out a team-high eight helpers as all five starters contributed to the Raider offense on the night.
• Colgate shot 52.5 percent from the floor and drained 5-of-14 from long-range. The Raiders also earned a season-high 25 makes from the free throw line.
• The Raiders slightly outrebounded the Mids 29-27, but Navy held the edge on offensive boards at 10-6.
• Navy notched 35 points from inside the paint compared to Colgate's 30, while the Mids also tallied 16 points to the Raiders 10 off of turnovers.  
• There were five tie scores and five lead changes in the game, all of which came in the opening 10 minutes of play.
• The Raiders held the edge for 33:07, while Navy was ahead for 3:14. The game was tied for 3:39.
• Colgate had the game's largest lead at 13, twice in the second half. The Raiders hit that mark last with 11:02 left to play when Ramon hit back-to-back shots for five quick points.
 
Navy's Numbers
• Dunbar registered a team-best 17 points in the game after he went 6-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-8 from the free throw line.   
• Dulin closed out the Mids with double-figure scoring after tallying 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting overall, 2-of-3 makes from downtown and 4-of-5 shots from the charity stripe.  
• On the boards it was Worth Smith, who grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
• The Mids shot 45.1 percent from the floor and converted on 4-of-14 attempts from long-range. Navy also went 12-of-21 from the free throw line.

Interesting Notes
• With the win, Colgate is now .500 on the season at 16-16.
• The Raiders advance to the Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since 2009 and earned their first home quarterfinal win since 2008.
• Colgate is now 5-2 all-time against the Mids in the Patriot League Tournament with a 3-0 mark in the quarterfinals.
• The Raiders are 11-13 in conference quarterfinal games and move on to their 12th semifinal appearance.
• Colgate is 10-4 on Cotterell Court and 4-1 in the last five home games, with the only loss coming at the hands of Navy in that impressive come-from-behind one-point victory.
• The Raiders have now ended the Mids season in consecutive years, after taking a 57-51 victory at home just a season ago in the conference quarterfinals.
• Colgate earned five players in double-figure scoring for the first time this season.
• All five of the Raider starters have more than 300 points on the year, while four of the five have more than 100 rebounds. Colgate also has four of its five starters with 50 or more assists.

How It Happened
• The game was tied at 14-all after five tie scores and five lead changes in the opening 10 minutes of action.
• Back-to-back treys from the Raiders though sparked a 13-8 run, handing the hosts the 27-22 edge at the break.
• Immediately out of halftime Colgate went on another 9-2 run over a four-minute span, which gave the Raiders a 36-24 advantage.
• The two teams exchanged buckets for a while until a layup from Sherman-Newsome with less than three minutes to play gave Colgate a 61-50 lead.
• Navy would not go away, however, answering with a 5-0 run to make it a six-point game with 1:22 remaining.
• The Raiders finished the game hitting 11-of-14 from the charity stripe though to secure themselves a spot in one of the semifinal games.
 
Records Watch
• Tillotson recorded eight assists in the game, which handed him 131 on the season. The junior is now just two helpers shy of matching his total from a season ago, which placed him third all-time in season-assists.
• Roh sits with 337 career helpers. He is just 19 assists shy of matching Dave Hardy '03 for third all-time.

Straight From The Source
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: (on his overall thoughts from the game) "It's postseason basketball so it's an exciting time of the year for everybody that gets to play. We are really fortunate to move on. I'm proud of our group."

"The crowd was fantastic. The support of the athletic department here at Colgate, the Hamilton community and Colgate University as a whole, was just awesome. And now for us to have the opportunity to host again on Sunday and have the defending league champions come here is really a great opportunity for us. It's something that we take great pride in. Our ability to built not only over the course of this season but over Matty (McMullen)'s whole career and get us to where we can be playing our best basketball hopefully into next week."
 
"The game was what you'd expect, hard-fought and closely contested. You know those student-athletes from Navy are going to give everything they possible have. They really compete on the defensive end. We didn't hit a whole lot of shots early in the first half, which you don't like to see. You like to break that seal and get it going but we didn't. Our defense in the second half was fantastic though."
 
"Matt McMullen, Luke Roh, Damon Sherman-Newsome and even Ethan (Jacobs) a little bit on the defensive end, that veteran group really locked in and made it difficult for Navy to get some good looks. That led to some good opportunities for us to score."
 
"Alex (Ramon) off the bench was fantastic. He's been playing great the last couple weeks, hopefully he's coming into the senior roll of wanting to perform for his teammates."

"It was just a fantastic win for our team and our program."
 
• Colgate forward Matt McMullen (on having five players reach double-digits in the game) "That's a big part of our team, really. You take away one piece and we kind of have four or five more. Our depth has been unbelievable. We've had so many different leading scorers in every single game and someone always seems to step up even when the rest of the team isn't playing their best. When I look back on the best teams that I've been a part of, that's always been an ingredient. Balance across the scoring sheet and all of the stats for that matter."
 
(on how the crowd and atmosphere impacted the team's performance) "It was awesome. I really felt like I was in a college basketball game this time around. I'm so grateful to everyone who came out. We had great support from all of the other athletic teams as well as campus fraternities and sororities and the overall student body. It was live in there and I felt good about it."
 
(on the respect he has for the Navy seniors) "I've known Kevin Alter on Navy since high school, where we used to play against each other. I have nothing but respect for all of the seniors on the Navy and for everything they do. Not only on the basketball court but what they are going to move on to do for us as a country. I'm going to miss playing against Worth Smith, Brendan Venturini, Earl McLaurin and even Pookie (Kevin Alter). I have nothing but love for all of those guys."

Up Next
• The Raiders welcome the six-seeded American Eagles to Cotterell Court for a semifinal matchup at 4 p.m. That game is set to be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.  
• Colgate and American split their two games during the regular season with both teams winning on the home courts.
• The Eagles hold the all-times series over the Raiders at 6-28.
• Fans can purchase tickets starting Friday at 10:00 a.m. by calling the Colgate Athletic Ticket Office at 315-228-7600, visiting the website at www.bleedcolgatemaroon.com or by visiting the ticket office in Reid Athletic Center from 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, unless otherwise posted.

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