HAMILTON – Rapolas Ivanauskas posted his third double-double in four games and Will Rayman collected his 1,000th career point to lead Colgate to its third straight win with an 86-68 victory over Nazareth Wednesday night at Cotterell Court.
 
Ivanauskas racked up a career-high 30 points and dominated the glass with 12 boards in the win. First-year Tucker Richardson and Malcolm Regisford registered 11 points apiece, and Rayman added 10 points while recording his 1,000th career point in the process.
 
Nazareth used a fast start to jump out to an early lead but Colgate wore the Golden Flyers down throughout the first half. Ivanauskas gave the Raiders a 23-22 lead midway through the opening frame and they never trailed again. 
 
Rayman eclipsed the century mark with a layup with 4:15 left in the first to stretch Colgate's lead to 32-27. The junior forward later knocked down a pair of free throws and added another layup to give the Raiders their largest lead of the half, 37-30.
 

Francisco Amiel capped the first-half scoring with a three-pointer to send the Raiders to a 40-34 lead at intermission. 

The Raiders pressed defensively in the second half to force early shots and race out to an 18-2 run, including 12 consecutive points, inside the first six minutes. Ivanauskas took over with eight of the Raiders first 10 second-half points to stretch Colgate's lead to 58-38.
 
The two teams went back-and-forth over the next eight minutes until Jack Ferguson drained a three-pointer to give Colgate a 74-49 lead.

Zach Light recorded his first two collegiate points before a Jordan Burns steal and layup pushed the Raiders lead to a game-high 28 points at 81-53. 
 
The Golden Flyers closed the gap to 18 but could not get any closer as Colgate cruised to the 86-68 victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 86, Nazareth 68
 
FOR THE RECORD
• Colgate improved to 3-1 on the season.
• Nazareth dropped its season-opening exhibition.

FROM THE SOURCE
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: 

(On the game) "It's hard to have a specific plan for a game like this. You know they are a good program that won their conference last year in Division III and returned their whole team, basically. But they hadn't played any games, so it's hard to know what they are going to try and do against us because we have some size that they don't typically face.

"We're not a team that normally forces a lot of turnovers but I was hoping we could do a little bit better than we did in the first half. In the second half, we did a little bit better. We turned up the intensity, created some havoc that led to some runouts. We got the ball inside and got some good shots and got that significant lead that you are hoping you get in a game like that."

(On second-half adjustments) "Our guys did a better job and had some more urgency on the defensive end to not allow them to do what they were doing. And defense affects offense, which is what happened in the second half."

(On Rayman reaching 1,000 points) "I was fortunate to get enough opportunity and play with enough good teammates that I was in that position, although not until my senior year. It is a nice benchmark that recognizes the minutes he has played and the trust he has earned from the coaches and the motor he plays with. To be able to provide that for our team, to be able to score like he has in two years and just a couple of games is quite an accomplishment."

KEY RAIDER NOTES
• Ivanauskas led the Raiders on the glass for the fourth consecutive game.
• Colgate outscored Nazareth in the paint, 52-30.
• The Raiders have outscored their opponents in the second half in every contest this season.
• For the season, Colgate is outscoring the opposition 181-136 over the final 20 minutes.
• Colgate extended its home win streak to six straight dating back to last year.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
• Colgate shot 51.5 percent (35-of-68) from the floor while holding Nazareth to 35.9 percent (23-of-64).
• The Raiders finished 5-of-18 from beyond the arc and went 11-for-16 from the charity stripe.
 
UP NEXT
• Colgate will host Binghamton Monday night for a non-conference matchup at Cotterell Court at 7 p.m.