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HAMILTON – Colgate finally, finally – finally – outlasted sharpshooting UMBC here Sunday in a wild and wooly 93-88 victory.
 
The win lifts the Raiders to 2-1 for their best start to a season since the 2008-09 campaign.
 
UMBC shot 61 percent from the floor in the opening half, including 7-of-11 from downtown, and led Colgate 44-40 at the break. Then the visitors really caught fire.
 
The Retrievers before the first media timeout of the second half scored 16 points to Colgate's 13. UMBC during that stretch was 6-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-3 from long range, boosting their shooting percentages to 64.7 overall and a sizzling 71.4 from 3-point distance (10-of-14) to that point.
 
But Colgate used its own shooting touch to hang tough. The Raiders trailed by as much as 40-29 late in the first half and 70-62 with 12:04 remaining.
 
Colgate in the second half scored 53 points on 19-of-28 from the field (67.9 percent).
 
First-year guard Jordan Burns notched a collegiate-high 26 points on 12-of-15 shooting to share game honors. Sophomore Will Rayman added 23 points and a team-high seven rebounds in the win.
 
Both Rayman and senior Jordan Swopshire tied career-highs with five 3-pointers, with all five of Rayman's coming in the second half to spark a 21-point burst after intermission. Swopshire tallied 17 points for the Raiders.
 
Fellow senior Sean O'Brien had a solid game controlling the point for the Raiders as he picked up 12 points, six rebounds and six assists.
 
Jairus Lyles led UMBC with 26 points and a career-high 11 rebounds to post his first collegiate double-double. Arkel Lamar scored 20 of his 24 in the second half for the Retrievers.

Bottom Line
Colgate 93, UMBC 88
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 2-1 with its second straight win.
• UMBC is now 1-3.
 
Down the Stretch
• Colgate regained its first lead since 13-12 on Malcolm Regisford's free throw that made it 71-70 with 9:48 remaining.
• After some back and forth, UMBC went in front 80-76 on Max Portmann's layup with 5:30 to play.
• A Burns layup and five straight from Rayman capped a 7-0 Raider run that put Colgate in front 83-80 with 3:33 showing.
• UMBC grabbed an 86-85 lead when Lamar made 1-of-2 free throws with 2:16 remaining.
• Colgate then scored six of the next eight points as Burns forced home a contested layup, Rayman found Dana Batt for a nifty reverse layup and then Burns knocked down a 15-foot baseline jumper with 30 seconds remaining. It was 91-88.
• After the Raiders forced UMBC into an offensive foul, O'Brien canned both free throws with 20.3 remaining to ice it.
 
Facts & Figures
• Colgate closed the game on an 8-2 run over the final 2 minutes.
• For the game, there were six ties and 13 lead changes.
• Colgate posted a 20-8 edge in points-off-turnovers and led 31-21 in bench scoring.
• UMBC led for more than 29 minutes in the game; Colgate led for a little more than 8 minutes
• Colgate registered season highs for points scored, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, 3-pointers made, assists (16) and steals (9).
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: (On the game) "With the rules and the talent of young players these days, we are seeing a lot more high-scoring affairs. I wasn't sure we would have the firepower to be able to win one of these games; I was proud of our guys for doing it. Ultimately, it was 80-80 and we stayed on that pace and got enough stops to keep them to just eight more points over the rest of the game. That was the difference."
 
(On the defensive effort) "It wasn't just the fact that they missed some of the shots they were taking. We locked in; we communicated. We've been working hard on our defense. Offensively, we know we have enough talent and enough different guys who can score on any given night. But we're going to win games on a consistent basis because we play good defense."
 
List to the rest of Coach Langel's comments here.
 
• Colgate forward Will Rayman: (On defense turning the tide) "I had a rough first half but I just had to play with a lot of energy. The coaches said to just keep playing hard and I was really focused on defense. The other guys fed off that and everyone was playing super hard. It was awesome."
 
List to the rest of Rayman's comments here.
 
• Colgate guard Jordan Burns: (On the game) "It was a great game and a lot of people showed the poise we have. The hard work we do in practice really showed tonight. We don't get tired, we play our hardest all the time and we never give up."
 
List to the rest of Burns' comments here.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 303.
 
Up Next
• Colgate returns to the road Wednesday at Boston College of the ACC.
• The Eagles are 4-1 after Sunday's 82-61 win over La Salle at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament in Connecticut.
• Note the start time of 4 p.m., with ACC Network Extra providing the livestream coverage.