HAMILTON – The Colgate men's basketball team rallied from a first-half deficit, but second-place Boston University held on to claim a 69-68 victory Wednesday night at Cotterell Court.
 
First-year Will Rayman led the Raiders with 20 points with the help of 10 points from the free throw line. Junior Jordan Swopshire followed with 18 points, while classmate Sean O'Brien chipped in 11.
 
The Terriers held an early 6-5 lead before using a 19-5 run over a ten-minute span to take a 25-9 advantage with 8:18 left in the first half. A three-pointer from O'Brien snapped the BU streak at the 7:53 mark.
 
The O'Brien trey helped spark a 15-8 half-closing run for the Raiders. The streak saw four points from both Swopshire and Rayman as Colgate was able to pull within 33-24 heading into the locker room.
 
A pair of Swopshire free throws, a layup from sophomore Malcolm Regisford and an O'Brien three-pointer helped Colgate put seven of the second half's first nine points on the board as the Raiders found themselves within four at 35-31 just over three minutes into the term.   
 
The Terriers were back ahead by seven at 42-35 three minutes later before both teams went scoreless for nearly four minutes. A free throw from senior Nathan Harries put the next point on the board, but BU was able to work its lead back to nine at 47-38 with 9:26 to play.
 
A Swopshire jumper was then followed by a corner O'Brien three that put the score at 47-43 a minute and a half later. The teams exchanged baskets over the next six minutes. Rayman scored Colgate's next 11 points, six of which came from the free throw line, to keep the Raiders close at 57-54 with 2:07 to play.
 
BU's Eric Fanning scored the game's next four points to stretch the Terrier lead to 61-54 with just over a minute left on the clock. A pair of Colgate free throws and a Swopshire three-pointer followed in the next 15 seconds to pull the Raiders within 63-59 with 44 seconds to play.
 
The teams exchanged free throws to put the score at 65-61 in favor of BU with 31 seconds left. O'Brien raced down the court and tossed in a layup just seven seconds later to pull Colgate within two with 23.4 seconds to play.   The Terriers worked an in-bound play that led to a Justin Alston dunk six seconds later.
 
Harries was fouled after grabbing an offensive board and made both his attempts from the charity stripe to put Colgate back within two at 67-65 with 7.3 seconds on the clock. The Terriers beat Colgate's press once again to set up Alston for a dunk with 2.0 seconds left. Swopshire drained a buzzer-beating three-pointer, but it wasn't enough as BU held on for a 69-68 victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE

• Boston University 69, Colgate 68

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• The Terriers take over sole possession of second place in the Patriot League standings as BU improves to 11-4 in league play and 16-11 overall.
• Colgate falls to 9-19 on the season and 7-8 in league action.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• Rayman's 20 points marked his sixth 20-plus point performance of the season and 21st double-digit effort. He made a career-high 10 free throws, finishing 10-for-12 from the charity stripe.
• Rayman scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half. He added a team-best seven rebounds.
• Swopshire tallied his sixth-straight double-digit effort and 15th of the season.
• O'Brien's 11 points marked his 18th game in double-figures.
• O'Brien led the squad with five assists.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• Colgate finished the game shooting 39.6 percent (21-for-53) from the field, 27.6 percent (8-for-29) from three-point range and 75.0 percent (18-for-24) from the free throw line.
• The Terriers shot 45.1 percent (23-for-51) from the floor, 23.8 percent (5-for-21) from downtown and 60.0 percent (18-for-30) from the charity stripe.
• The Raiders held a 40-33 rebound advantage.
• BU was led by Alston's 21 points and 10 rebounds.

 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel

• "In the first half we didn't have nearly enough toughness to compete with a team that's in second place in our league. That was really disappointing at this stage in the season."
• "In the second half we just didn't make enough shots. When you're fighting from behind late you have to execute better. In general, we didn't make the open shots we needed to come back from the deficit that we had."

 
UP NEXT

• The Raiders are on the road for their next two contests, beginning with a Sunday trip to Loyola.
• Tipoff from Baltimore is set for 12 p.m. Sunday.
• Colgate earned a 52-49 win in the season's first meeting on Jan. 21 in Hamilton.
• The game will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Radio via the Heritage Sports Network.
• All information on how to follow can be found at Game Central.