PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A strong second half for Colgate was not enough to overcome a tough shooting performance as Pittsburgh's aggressive defense and timely offense led the Panthers to a 68-54 victory Saturday afternoon in the Raiders final non-league game of the regular season.
 
Rayman posted his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Raiders. Dana Batt finished with nine points and seven boards, while Rapolas Ivanauskas finished with nine rebounds in the defeat.
 
Rayman led the Raiders out of the gates with six of the first 10 points and Colgate held an early 10-7 advantage after Jordan Burns hit a three-pointer nearly six minutes in. A jumper from Batt put the Raiders back in the lead 12-11, but Pittsburgh answered with nine straight points to open a 20-12 lead near the midway point.
 
A free throw from Malcolm Regisford ended nearly a four-minute scoring drought and Rayman followed with Colgate's first field goal in over five minutes to bring the Raiders within eight points at 23-15 with 7:30 left on the clock.

A pair of free throws from Tucker Richardson closed the gap to six but that was as close as the Raiders would get before the home team closed with a 19-6 run to take a 42-23 lead into the locker room.
 
Pittsburgh continued its up-tempo defense and the Raiders were held without a made three-point field goal until Jack Ferguson's back-to-back treys cut the deficit to 13 points with just over six minutes left on the block.

Colgate outscored Pittsburgh overall in the second half but could never sustain a major threat as the Panthers maintained their steady lead throughout en route to the 68-54 victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE
• Pittsburgh 68, Colgate 54
 
RECORDS UPDATE
• Colgate is now 8-5 overall and 4-5 in road games this season.  
• Pittsburgh improved to 10-3 with the win and 8-1 on its home court.

FROM THE SOURCE
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: 
 
"This was a tough game for us from start to finish. After having a couple weeks off and exams at the end of the semester, I knew this would be a challenge for our team. Pittsburgh played really hard today and that's what you saw from a bunch of young guys sprinkled in with a few of their veterans.
 
"We are at our best when we are running a motion offense and moving the ball, but their defense eliminated that from us today. This Pittsburgh team plays as hard on the defensive end as any team we have played this year. We missed too many shots and dug ourselves too big of a hole with 12 turnovers in the first half.
 
"We have a good group here and we are looking forward to starting Patriot League play. I like our team; we have a chance in the Patriot League and hopefully everyone saw that in the second half of today's game."

KEY RAIDER NOTES
• Colgate racked up a season-high 25 offensive rebounds and 50 total boards.
• Ferguson extended his streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer to 10 straight.
• Rayman's sixth career double-double was his first of the 2018-19 campaign.
• The Raiders outscored Pittsburgh 31-26 in the second half.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
• Colgate was held to season lows in shooting from the floor (30 percent) and three-point range (16.7 percent). 
• Pittsburgh shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field and 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from beyond the arc.
• The Raiders finished 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from the free throw line, while Pittsburgh was 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) from the charity stripe. 
• Colgate outrebounded Pittsburgh, 50-34. 

UP NEXT
• Colgate is back in action next Thursday, Jan. 3, for the Patriot League opener at Navy with tip-off from Annapolis, Md., set for 7 p.m.