HAMILTON – The Colgate men's basketball team trailed Loyola by seven with under two minutes to play before a three-pointer from junior Sean O'Brien sparked a 12-2 game-closing run to lead the Raiders to a 52-49 win over the Greyhounds Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court.
 
O'Brien finished with a game-high 16 points. Sophomore Malcolm Regisford added 13 points and seven rebounds, including a thunderous dunk with 19 seconds remaining to give Colgate a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Junior Jordan Swopshire followed with 12 points.
 
A Regisford jumper and four points from O'Brien helped the Raiders to an early 6-2 lead just under four minutes into the game. The Greyhounds answered with an 8-2 run over the next four minutes to claim a 10-8 lead at 12:23.
 
An O'Brien layup then sparked an 11-3 Raider streak that took over six minutes off the clock and put Colgate up 19-13 at the 5:24 mark. The run saw five points from Swopshire and baskets from Regisford and first-year Will Rayman. Loyola tossed in the next five points to trim the Raider lead to one, but a Regisford layup and Rayman trey put Colgate right back up by six at 24-18 with 1:50 to play.
 
The Greyhounds scored four of the first half's final six points, but Colgate still carried a 26-22 lead into the locker room.
 
Loyola pulled within one on two occasions in the opening five minutes of the second half, but Colgate worked its lead back to four following a Swopshire trey and layup from sophomore Francisco Amiel. The Greyhounds rattled off the next six points, however, and held Colgate scoreless for over five minutes to reclaim the lead at 38-36 with 8:44 to play.
 
An O'Brien layup finally stopped Colgate's scoreless streak at 8:28 and tied the score at 38. The Greyhounds tallied the game's next seven points as the Raiders continued to struggle offensively and Loyola pulled ahead 45-38 with four and a half minutes to play.  
 
Loyola was ahead 47-40 as the clock wound under two before an O'Brien trey rattled in and pulled Colgate within four with 1:58 on the clock. Loyola turned the ball over on its next possession and Amiel capitalized as he made a pair of attempts from the free throw line to put the score at 47-45 thirty seconds later.
 
The Greyhounds missed the front end of a one-and-one before O'Brien drained another three-pointer and gave the Raiders a 48-47 lead with 46 seconds to play. Loyola hit a pair of free throws to go back up by one before Regisford threw down a thunderous dunk to give Colgate a 50-49 lead with 19 seconds to play.
 
Loyola didn't convert on its next possession and was then forced to foul with less than a second left. Rayman made both free throws to seal the 52-49 Colgate victory.
  
 
BOTTOM LINE

• Colgate 52, Loyola 49

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• The Raiders win back-to-back games for the first time this season and improve to 6-15 overall and 4-4 in the Patriot League.
• The Greyhounds fall to 9-10 on the season and 3-5 in league action.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• The Raiders remain undefeated at home against the Greyhounds. Colgate is 4-0 all-time at Cotterell Court when hosting Loyola.
• Colgate earned its first Patriot League home win of the season.
• O'Brien's 16 points came on a 7-for-11 effort from the field. He made two three-pointers, both of which came in the final two minutes.
• Regisford recorded his 11th double-digit scoring effort of the season.
• Swopshire's 12 points marked his ninth double-figure performance.
• Rayman was held under 10 points for the first time since Dec. 10. He finished with seven points, two rebounds and two assists.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• The Raiders finished the game shooting 43.2 percent (19-for-44) from the field, 25.0 percent (5-for-20) from three-point range and 90 percent (9-for-10) from the charity stripe.
• Colgate held Loyola to a 38.8 (19-for-49) field goal percentage, 31.3 percent (5-for-16) mark from downtown and 60 percent (6-for-10) clip from the free throw line.
• The Raiders controlled a 30-29 rebound advantage.
• Andre Walker led the Greyhounds with 14 points, while Cam Gregory chipped in 10.

 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel

• "We've been in these situations so many times this season and have suffered so many heartbreaking losses. We've learned a lot about ourselves and how to handle these types of late-game situations through the process. We kept our poise, executed well and took advantage of a couple of mistakes that Loyola made."
• "We played tough enough defense to win late. We've seen heroics by the Loyola group against us late in games, so it was great to be on the other side."
• "We have a captain and a leader that has the heart of a lion in Sean O'Brien. He made that three-pointer at the top and then made a big behind-the-back pass to Malcolm (Regisford) that led to the dunk."
• "Malcolm was big today. He shouldered the load in the first half. He had some big baskets today. We need some interior scoring and he's our best option so we're going to keep going to him."

 
Junior guard Sean O'Brien

• "I didn't start off too hot, but I knew if I kept shooting then shots would fall eventually. Fortunately, at the end of the game they did."
• "Both teams were playing really good defense. Both us and Loyola are in the middle of the pack right now and we know every win is so important. Early on both teams realized that if we wanted to get a win we had to play solid defense and both teams did that."
• On the always close results vs. Loyola: "I think it says a lot about the fight that both teams have in them. No player gives up at any point. The biggest thing was just being tougher mentally and physically and towards the end we started to do that."

 
UP NEXT

• The Raiders remain home to host preseason favorite Lehigh Wednesday.
• Tipoff from Cotterell Court is set for 7 p.m.
• All information on how to follow can be found at Game Central.

 
GAME ARCHIVE