BOSTON – Despite senior
Austin Tillotson's career-high scoring night, Colgate Men's Basketball could not end Boston University's winning streak and dropped a tough 71-68 decision here Wednesday night.
Tillotson scored 19 of his final 28 points in the opening half, including three 3-pointers in last 1:18, to help Colgate take a 33-31 edge into the break.
The Terriers quickly knotted the score early in the second period and the teams went back-and-forth over the next 10 minutes seeing five lead changes and tie scores.
It was all square at 52-all with 7:44 remaining but the hosts then used a 10-4 run to give them a little breathing room at 62-56 with 5:19 left to play.
Back-to-back layups from Colgate pulled the Raiders to within 62-60 with just over 3½ minutes to go but that would ultimately be as close as they would come. Late in the game the Raiders started fouling the Terriers in hopes of some missed free throws, which they got. But they never could get the deficit down any closer than three.
With the win, the Terriers extended their winning streak to seven games.
Tillotson led all players in scoring with his 28 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The senior added a career-best 6-of-8 makes from downtown to go along with his 6-of-8 attempts at the free throw line.
Fellow classmate
Alex Ramon added 10 points, while
Jordan Swopshire missed his second career double-double by one point, finishing with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Sean O'Brien closed out the Colgate top scorers with eight points.
Swopshire's 10 boards were a team-high but sophomore
Tom Rivard chipped in seven of his own.
Colgate is back at home on Sunday when Loyola comes to town for a noon tip in Cotterell Court. Prior to the game, the Raiders will honor Tillotson and Ramon with a senior day ceremony. Live stats and video will be available at the start.
Bottom Line• Boston U. 71, Colgate 68
Won-Lost Records• Boston U. remains unbeaten in its last seven contests and moves to 17-11 overall with a 10-5 mark in Patriot League play.
• Colgate dips to 12-14 and 8-7, respectively.
Facts & Figures• Tillotson led all scorers with 28 points, earning him his 22nd double-digit scoring night this season. He also posted back-to-back 20-plus scoring contests after notching 20 against Bucknell during the Raiders' last outing. The senior now has five 20+ point games so far this year.
• He added three assists, five rebounds and three steals in his team-leading 38 minutes played.
• Ramon got back to twin figures with 10 points in the contest on 3-of-4 shooting. He chipped in four boards as well.
• Swopshire scored all nine of his points in the second 20 minutes and went 3-for-7 from long range. The sophomore pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds to lead the Raiders on the boards for the sixth time this season.
• O'Brien recorded eight points, three helpers, and two rebounds, while Rivard notched five points, seven rebounds and two steals.
• Colgate went 22-of-60 from the floor for 36.7 percent shooting on the night. The Raiders also drained 11-of-25 from downtown and 13-of-19 from the charity stripe.
• Boston U. converted 30 points inside the paint compared to the Raiders' 18. The hosts recorded a 12-7 edge on second chance opportunities as well.
• The Raiders scored 14 points off of turnovers to BU's 6 and held the 4-2 advantage on fast break points.
• The Terrier bench outscored the Raider bench, 24-14.
• Both teams held a game-high six point lead in the contest with Colgate's coming in the first half and BU's in the second.
• The Raiders led for 17:21, while the Terriers were in front for 18:00. The game was tied for 4:39.
• There were 13 lead changes and eight tie scores.
Boston U.'s Numbers• Four Terriers recorded twin figures with Cheddi Mosely's 15 points leading the way. He went 6-for-14 from the floor, 2-for-10 from long range and 1-for-4 from the line.
• Eric Fanning chipped in 13 points, while Nick Havener and Blaise Mbargorba each registered 10 points apiece.
• Mosely led the team on the glass with 10 rebounds, earning him a double-double.
• Rookie Kyle Foreman chipped in a game-high six assists to go along with three blocks each from Havener and Dylan Haines. Havener closed out his night with a team-best three steals.
• The Terriers shot 49.1 percent from the floor on 27-of-55 attempts. BU converted on 6-of-23 shots from behind-the-arc, while going 11-of-22 at the line.
Straight From The Source•
Colgate head coach Matt Langel: (on his thoughts from the game) "Boston has become a tough team. All of the adversity they've faced with their injuries has really increased their toughness over the course of this basketball season. They had some guys who may not have been contributing a lot but have been forced into a role and have found a way to step up and help their team. I think that's become their identity and it's impressive. It's why they are where they are at this point.
"For us, I thought we had our chances. It's hard to win on the road in this league and we didn't play well enough. We had our opportunities on both ends of the floor and we couldn't come up with a few loose ball rebounds when we needed to. We didn't keep guys from doing what their capable of doing on the defensive end and then we didn't make shots.
(Tom) Rivard and (Jordan) Swopshire have been our second and third leading scorers and one of them has usually come up pretty big in games that we've done well. I credit Boston for part of it, but in reality they got some shots that they've made over the course of the season and they didn't tonight. So that's what happens. It's a fragile game and we came up a little bit short tonight, which is disappointing."
Gate Grab Bag• Attendance at Case Gym was 705.
Next Up• The Raiders are back in the comfy confines of Cotterell Court for their next two contests.
• Colgate welcomes Loyola on Sunday for a noon tip before Lehigh graces Hamilton on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tilt.
• The Greyhounds are coming off a 87-52 loss at first place Bucknell on Wednesday.
• Sunday's game marks senior day for Tillotson and Ramon.
• Live stats and video will be available at the start of that game.
