HAMILTON – The Colgate men's basketball team erased a seven-point halftime deficit with a hot-shooting second half to earn a 77-72 win over Loyola in a back-and-forth Patriot League battle at Cotterell Court Saturday afternoon.
 
Loyola controlled a 36-29 lead at halftime, but Colgate came out strong in the second term to erase the Greyhound advantage less than four minutes into the stanza. The Raiders then shot 65.0 percent (13-for-20) from the field and 86.4 percent (19-for-22) from the free throw line in the second term to close out the 77-72 win.
 
First-year Jordan Burns led the team with 20 points. Junior Dana Batt was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field as he recorded a career-best 16 points. Senior Jordan Robertson rounded out the Raider double-digit scoring with a season-high 13 points.
 
The teams exchanged baskets in the opening minutes as the score was knotted at 11-11 seven minutes into the game. Four points from Robertson and a Burns jumper helped Colgate rattle off the next six points and pull ahead 17-11 with 9:06 left on the first-half clock.
 
The Raiders were still ahead by six at 23-17 just under four minutes later, but 13 points from Andre Walker helped the Greyhounds close the first half on a 17-4 run to take a 36-29 lead into halftime.
 
Burns converted a conventional three-point play to open up the second half and jumpstart a 15-6 Raider run. Batt scored six during the streak to help Colgate erase the halftime deficit and pull ahead 44-42 just under four minutes into the game.
 

Career-high 1??4?? points for Dana Batt! He's a perfect 7-for-7 from the field ?? #GoGate pic.twitter.com/TwN3yKqFzy

— Colgate Men's Basketball (@ColgateMBB) January 20, 2018

The Raiders stayed in front for the next few minutes until back-to-back Loyola three-pointers gave the Greyhounds back the advantage at 58-55 with 8:58 to play.
 
Five points from Robertson and six Raider free throws allowed Colgate to answer with an 11-3 streak over the next nearly five minutes as Colgate came back to control a 66-61 advantage with 4:02 left on the clock.
 
Loyola's Walker struck again as six points from the senior guard allowed the Greyhounds to tally eight of the next 10 points and jump back in front 69-68 with 2:13 to play.
 
Senior Jordan Swopshire drained two free throws before Burns hit a clutch three-pointer to put the Raiders up 73-69 with 52 seconds on the clock.  Walker missed a three-pointer attempt before the Greyhounds were forced to foul. Senior Sean O'Brien made one from the charity stripe before Robertson added two to put the Colgate lead at 76-70 with 13 seconds left.
 

JB??? pic.twitter.com/VHQeS1bzH6

— Colgate Men's Basketball (@ColgateMBB) January 20, 2018

Loyola made a fast-break layup, but Colgate was in control the rest of the way as the Raiders closed out the game for the 77-72 win.
 
BOTTOM LINE

• Colgate 77, Loyola 72

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• The Raiders improve to 10-9 on the season and 5-3 in the Patriot League. Colgate and Army are tied for third place in the league standings and will meet Wednesday night in West Point, N.Y.
• Loyola drops to 5-14 overall and 3-5 in the league.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• Colgate remains undefeated against Loyola at home as the Raiders are now 6-0 all-time when playing the Greyhounds at Cotterell Court.
• Colgate improves to 7-2 at home this season with the victory.
• Burns tallied his second 20-plus point performance and 13th double-digit effort of the season with his 20 points. He shot 6-for-9 from the field and 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
• Batt was 7-for-7 from the field and 2-for-3 from the charity stripe. His seven field goals and 16 points are both career highs.
• Robertson shot 5-for-10 from the field to register a season-best 13 points, his seconds-straight double-digit scoring effort.
• Sophomore Will Rayman led the squad with eight rebounds. Batt and Burns dished a team-high two assists apiece.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• Colgate finished the game shooting 54.3 percent (25-for-46) from the field, highlighted by the 65.0 percent second half.
• The Raiders made a season-best 23 free throws, finishing 23-for-26 (88.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Colgate shot 30.8 percent (4-for-13) from three-point range.
• Loyola finished the game shooting 52.7 percent (29-for-55) from the field, 35.0 percent (7-for-20) from three-point range and 50.0 percent (7-for-14) from the free throw line.
• Colgate controlled a strong 32-20 rebound edge.
• Walker led four Greyhounds in double-figures with 22 points.

 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel

• "We dug ourselves a huge hole in the second part of the first half. They're very guard oriented and we were getting outworked and weren't playing intelligent defense. Fortunately we didn't waste any time in the second half in digging deep and getting back to what we needed to do. We got the ball inside against their smaller players and played much better defense."
• "I was really proud of our effort, togetherness and will to win the game because it was an important game."
• "We're a team and we try to share the ball and get the open guy the shot. We're a type of team that we can get significant contributions from any guy on any given night and hopefully that's what we can continue to do."

 
UP NEXT

• Colgate hits the road to close out the first half of Patriot League play at Army West Point Wednesday.
• Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and free video will be available on the Patriot League Network.