ALBANY, N.Y. – In a back-and-forth battle that saw 16 lead changes and 12 tie scores, Albany came out on top to hand the Colgate men's basketball team a tough 75-69 defeat Wednesday night.
 
The Raiders clung to a 64-63 lead, but the Great Danes outscored Colgate 12-5 in the final three minutes as Albany improved to 7-1 on the season with the victory.
 
Sophomore Will Rayman led Colgate with 20 points. Senior Jordan Swopshire followed with 13 points, while first-year Jordan Burns and senior Jordan Robertson added 11 apiece.
 
The Great Danes scored the game's first four points, but Colgate answered with eight straight points with the help of two treys from senior Sean O'Brien to pull ahead 8-4 at the first media timeout.
 
Albany responded with nine of the game's next 13 points, but Rayman rattled off a personal 7-0 streak to put the Raider lead at 19-13 with 9:49 left on the first-half clock. The Great Danes answered once again, this time with a 10-0 streak to grab the lead back at 23-19 three minutes later.
 
A jumper from Robertson was followed by a Burns layup to knot the score at 23 at the 5:33 mark. The final five minutes of the term saw four lead changes and three tie scores before a Burns layup sent Colgate into the locker room with a 37-35 advantage at the half.
 
Albany tallied the first five points of the second half, but a Rayman trey quickly knotted the score at 40-40 just over three minutes into the stanza. The back-and-forth battle continued as the score was tied at 43, 45 and 50. A Swopshire jumper gave Colgate a 52-50 lead, but the Great Danes scored the next nine points to put the Raiders in a 59-52 hole with 8:36 to play.
 
Robertson converted a conventional three-point play 30 seconds later to snap the Great Dane streak and ignite a 12-4 Raider run that allowed Colgate to jump back in front at 64-63 with just over three minutes remaining.
 
Five points from Albany's leading scorer Joe Cremo helped thee Great Danes string together an 8-1 streak over the next two minutes to surge ahead 71-65 with 1:14 left on the clock. The Raiders pulled back within four on two occasions, but Albany's David Nichols made four free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal the 75-69 Great Dane victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE

• Albany 75, Colgate 69

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• Albany, a team that has made six-straight national postseason appearances, improves to 7-1 on the season.
• Colgate falls to 3-3 overall.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• Rayman's 20 points marks his second 20-plus point effort of the young season. He finished 7-for-12 from the field and added a team-high five rebounds.
• Swopshire's 13 points were accompanied by a team-leading four assists and five boards.
• Robertson's 11 points were a new season high. The senior finished 4-for-6 from the field.
• Burns tallied his fifth double-digit effort of the season.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• Colgate finished the game shooting 45.5 percent (25-for-55) from the field, 36.4 percent (8-for-22) from three-point range and 68.8 percent (11-for-16) from the free throw line.
• Twenty of Albany's points were second-chance points as the Great Danes hauled in 15 offensive boards.
• Albany finished the game with a 39-24 rebound advantage.

 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel

• "We put ourselves in the position we wanted to be in tonight – competing against a really good, championship caliber team. We were in position and we had some chances in the final minutes. We missed a few shots that I thought would have changed the game. Their guys stepped up and they made the plays in crunch time."
• "Overall, I was proud of our effort and proud of the position we put ourselves in. We just couldn't finish the deal."

 
UP NEXT

• The Raiders continue their four-game New York road swing with a Saturday contest at Binghamton.
• Tipoff from Vestal, N.Y. is set for 2 p.m.