NEW YORK CITY – Colgate's road warriors deserved a better fate here Saturday than an 81-78 overtime loss.
 
The Raiders staged a furious rally over the game's final 21½ minutes of regulation, coming back from a 24-point first-half deficit and forcing overtime. They rallied again from a five-point margin in the extra session, only to fall on a 3-pointer from Nate Hickman with 1.1 seconds remaining.
 
Hickman was guarded closely by the Colgate defense and had nowhere to go with the ball. Upon hearing the cries from his bench to shoot as the clock was running out, Hickman let it fly from well behind the top of the key.
 
And it swished through as if he had planned it all along.
 
That closing three was the ultimate dagger, but Columbia nearly ran Colgate out of Levien Gym with its early sharpshooting. The Lions made their first five from downtown and six of their first seven in building a 45-21 lead just before halftime.
 
It ended up being barely enough to deal Colgate its fourth loss of the season in five tries.
 
Jordan Swopshire (26) and Nathan Harries (19) led the Raiders in scoring with a pair of career highs. Luke Petrasek was the Columbia leading scorer with 24, including seven of Columbia's 14 in overtime.
 
Bottom Line
• Columbia 81, Colgate 78 (ot)

Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 1-4.
• Columbia improved to 3-2.

Quick Rundown
• The first five made baskets in the game were threes – Columbia swished three and Colgate two for a 9-6 Lions lead.
• Columbia made it five straight threes to open the game and led 26-13 with 10:28 left.
• The Lions climbed to their largest lead of the game at 45-21 before Colgate scored the final eight points of the half – five from Swopshire and three from O'Brien – to pull within 45-29 at intermission.
• Colgate continued that run to start the second half, scoring the first seven points to make it a 15-0 spurt that narrowed the gap to 45-36.
• It was 48-36 when both teams went cold for nearly a five-minute stretch.
• Harries ended the dry spell with a 3-pointer and followed that with a great rebound and coast-to-coast runner to start a personal seven-point run that made it 50-43 with 10:53 left.
• Harries had a nifty put-back and then a nice dish to Rivard to cut it to 54-51 with 6:16 left. At that point, the Raiders had outscored Columbia 30-9 since trailing 45-21.
• Petrasek canned a key 3-pointer and then put one back at the shot-clock buzzer to push Columbia In front 65-58 with 3:16 remaining.
• But Harries made a pair of free throws and Swopshire nailed a 3-pointer to narrow it to 65-63. Swopshire scored 16 of his 26 in the second half and overtime.
• After an exchange of free throws left the Lions in front 67-64, Sean O'Brien got free for a corner three that tied it with five seconds remaining.
• In overtime, Columbia sprinted in front 74-69 before O'Brien made a layup and Swopshire another 3-ball to tie it with 2:03 showing.
• The Raiders had a crack with the game tied but couldn't convert. They then forced a missed shot by Petrasek, but Quintin Adlesh was all alone for the easy put-back and Columbia led 76-74 with 42 seconds left.
• The Raiders were just 3-of-6 at the line in overtime, and that hurt, because Petrasek was a perfect 5-of-5. His last two made it 78-75 with 22 seconds left.
• Harries bucketed another three to tie, which set the stage for Hickman's heroics at the end.
 
Key Raider Info
• Colgate never led in this game. The score was tied six times but the Raiders never could nose in front.
• Columbia averaged just over eight threes per game coming in, but they started this day with five straight and 6-of-7. They ended up 10-of-24 to match their season-high for made threes.
• Swopshire was one rebound shy of a double-double.
• Harries scored 16 of his 19 after intermission. He posted career highs for minutes (31), rebounds (7) and assists (3).
• Columbia's Petrasek finished 7-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three, and made all seven free throws. He's now 16-of-16 at the line this season.
• Columbia extended its winning streak over Colgate to six games.
 
From the Source
• Head coach Matt Langel (On Nathan Harries) "Nathan Harries is a winner. He battles chronic headaches and he's literally shaking in the locker room after the game, yet he can that kind of a performance and impact on the game.
 
"He's a good basketball player and he's super competitive."
 
Listen to the rest of Coach Langel's comments HERE.
 
Up Next
• After five straight road games, Colgate opens its home season Tuesday against Union.
• The Dutchmen are 0-1 heading into their own Sig Makofski Invitational this weekend.
• Colgate and Union are meeting for the first time in men's basketball.
• Tipoff from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m.