ITHACA, N.Y. – Sean O'Brien (Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania) led the Colgate men's basketball team with 18 points and five rebounds Wednesday night as the Raiders knocked off the Cornell Big Red, 67-63, for their first win of the season.
 
The win was Colgate's first against Cornell since an 81-58 win at Cotterell Court on Nov. 20, 2013.
 
O'Brien had the shot of the game with 2:06 to play in the second half to seal the win, draining a step-back three-pointer as the shot clock expired to give the Raiders a 60-53 lead and cap off a 7-2 run to extend their lead. O'Brien's 18 points are one shy of his career-high while tying his career-high with eight field goals made in the game and setting a new career-high with 38 minutes played.
 
First-year Will Rayman (New York, New York) was just one rebound shy of his first career double-double as he netted 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win. Malcolm Regisford (Woodland Hills, California) and sophomore Francisco Amiel (Corroios, Portugal) each posted 10 points in the win. Amiel's 10 points are a new career-high, besting his previous high of six points at Georgia Tech on Dec. 23, 2015.
 
Colgate and Cornell battled back-and-forth all game long with neither team getting a lead of more than nine points. Throughout the game, the teams were tied 12 times and exchanged leads 11 times. Colgate's largest lead of the game came after O'Brien hit his step-back three-pointer with 2:06 left in the second half.
 
The Big Red led by as many as nine points at 11-2 just 3:41 into the game after a Raiders timeout but Colgate promptly went on a 15-4 run over the following 4:38 to take their first lead of the game.
 
Neither team led by more than two points for the remainder of the first half as they entered halftime tied, 31-31. O'Brien and Cornell's Matt Morgan each had 10 points at the half to lead all scorers. Morgan finished the game with a game-high 26 points and managed to pull in six rebounds in the losing effort.
 
The back-and-forth affair continued into the second half as the Raiders opened up with a jumper by Rayman and three-pointer by O'Brien with 16:45 left in the second left to take a 36-33 lead. Once again, Cornell cut the deficit and both teams exchanged baskets until Colgate took the lead for good with 7:08 left in the second half as Dana Batt (Fort Wayne, Indiana) finished a lay up to make it 49-48 in favor of the Raiders.
 
Cornell pulled within one-point at 60-59 with 1:15 left in the game on a Morgan free throw but Regisford had four points on a layup and a pair of free throws to extend the Raiders lead to 64-61 with 29 seconds to play. Amiel extended the lead to five with 16.4 seconds left in the second half to make it 66-61 to secure the win for the Raiders.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 67, Cornell 63
 
WON-LOST RECORDS
Colgate picks up its first win of the season to improve to 1-1 while Cornell falls to 0-3 to open the year.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Sean O'Brien led Colgate with 18 points and five rebounds in 38 minutes of action
-Will Rayman nearly pulled in his first career double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds
-Regisford and Amiel each had 10 points and key baskets down the stretch
-Seven of the nine Raiders to play recorded at least five points
-Regisford led all players with three blocks in the winning effort
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate edged Cornell in field goal percentage at 42.2 percent compared to 41.2 percent
-The Raiders also outrebounded the Big Red, 37-36, and had a 12-8 advantage in offensive rebounds
-Colgate made seven three-pointers in the win, shooting 36.8 percent
-The Raiders bench had a big impact in the win, outscoring the Big Red 27-12
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
"A number of our bench guys provided solid play: Will Rayman, Francisco Amiel, Dana Batt and Nathan Harries who hasn't been able to play for most of his career due to unfortunate health. I think they gave us solid minutes off the bench; our depth gave us a chance to win that game."
 
"Sean [O'Brien] embodies toughness. He's a super hard worker and he's improved at his game constantly. He had a difficult freshman campaign, he provided solid play and great numbers statistically last year; the reality is he's the leader of our team now.
 
[He's a] lunch-pail type of guy and it pays off. The game of basketball rewards those kind of guys, he had a difficult, low-percentage shot and hit that huge step-off three-point shot that gave us that little lead that we needed to get in the home stretch."
 
UP NEXT
Colgate continues its five-game road trip to open up the season on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey when they face the NJIT Highlanders at 4 p.m.