HAMILTON – The Colgate men's basketball team erased a 12-point second-half deficit to come back for a 59-53 win over Holy Cross on Senior Day at Cotterell Court. The win secures the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament and the Raiders control home court advantage through the semifinal round.
Colgate tied a program record with its 17th regular-season win and also tied a program-best mark of 12 league wins. The Raiders wrapped up the regular-season 11-3 at home, tying a home court record for home wins in a season. Colgate's second-place finish is its best since the 2014-15 team also finished second.
The Raiders face the winner of Tuesday's No. 7/10 first-round game in Thursday's Patriot League Quarterfinals. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. from Cotterell Court. The winner advances to Sunday's Semifinals.
Senior
Sean O'Brien led the Raiders with 13 points, eclipsing the 1,000-career point mark in the process. Senior
Jordan Swopshire added 12 points, while first-year
Jordan Burns tallied 11.
The tough offensive first half started with Holy Cross in front 11-6 12 minutes into the term. First-year
Jack Ferguson scored five Raider points in a one-minute span to pull Colgate within 13-11 with 5:08 on the clock. The Crusaders closed the term on a 9-1 run, however, to take a 22-12 lead into the break.
A Swopshire three and Burns layup opened the second half as Colgate pulled within five in the first minute of the term. The Crusaders scored the next seven points, however, to go ahead 29-17 at 17:34.
A
Will Rayman jumper then sparked a 19-7 run over the next seven minutes. The streak saw five points from Swopshire and seven from Rayman, including the three-pointer that tied the score at 36-36 with 11 minutes to play.
Holy Cross was ahead by one at 40-39 three minutes later before a Ferguson three-pointer was followed by six-straight points from Burns that helped Colgate surge in front 48-40 at the 5:15 mark.
The Crusaders made a pair of free throws before O'Brien drained the three-pointer that accounted for the 1,000th point of his career. Swopshire added two free throws and the Raiders capped a 14-2 streak to pull ahead 53-42 with under four minutes to play.
Holy Cross scored the next seven points to put the score at 53-49 as the clock wound down to 1:35. O'Brien tossed in a key layup on Colgate's ensuing possession to put the Raiders back up by six with under a minute to play. A pair of Rayman free throws had Colgate ahead 57-50 before Holy Cross drained a three-pointer with nine seconds left to make it 57-53. O'Brien then made two free throws to put the game away and send Colgate home with the 59-53 win.
BOTTOM LINE
- Colgate 59, Holy Cross 53
WON-LOST RECORDS
- The Raiders end the regular season at 17-12 overall and 12-6 in the Patriot League.
- Holy Cross drops to 11-18 overall and 8-10 in league action.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- Colgate's 17 regular-season wins tie a program record that was also accomplished by the 2001-02, 1992-93, 1955-56, 1926-27 and 1921-22 teams.
- The Raiders are one win away from tying the program record for wins in a season (18).
- Colgate's 11 home wins tie the Cotterell Court record set by the 1994-95 team. The program record for home wins is 13, accomplished by the 1926-27 squad.
- O'Brien becomes the 33rd player to join Colgate's 1,000-point club. He joins Swopshire as members of the Class of 2018 to accomplish the feat.
- O'Brien's team-best 13 points were accompanied by five rebounds and a team-best four assists.
- Swopshire recorded his 21st double-digit scoring effort of the season with his 12 points.
- Burns registered his 17th double-figure game. He finished 4-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 from three-point range.
- Junior Dana Batt pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.
FACTS & FIGURES
- Colgate finished the game shooting 40.8 percent (20-for-49) from the field. The Raiders shot just 19.0 percent (4-for-21) in the opening term before bouncing back with a 57.1 percent (16-for-28) clip in the second half.
- The Raiders were 36.0 percent (9-for-25) from three-point range and 71.4 percent (10-for-14) from the free throw line.
- Holy Cross finished 41.7 percent (20-for-48) from the field, 35.3 percent (6-for-17) from downtown and 87.5 percent (7-for-8) from the charity stripe.
- The Raiders scored 20 points off 16 Holy Cross turnovers.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach
Matt Langel
- On today's game: "Our veteran leadership is very significant to our team. That being said, our youth helped us today because young guys tend to be more fearless. Coach Carmody's defense is terrific and it always has been. I credit our guys because they stuck together and played a connected brand of basketball. We worked really hard on defense and made their scoring opportunities difficult."
- On Sean O'Brien: "Sean is a winner. He fights and works every single day to be the best he can and help his team. I'm thrilled for him that he can go out on a winning note for his regular-season career."
- On home court advantage through semifinals: "It's well-deserved. We fought every single day to be in this position. Obviously you want to be regular-season champions, but once you can't, the next best thing is to be in second place and have home court for as long as you can. Our fan support today was terrific and a huge part of our momentum. It's big for our group to be second place when we were picked fifth or sixth."
UP NEXT
- Colgate opens the Patriot League Tournament with a quarterfinal game Thursday.
- The Raiders face the winner of Tuesday's No. 7/No. 10 first round game.
- Tipoff from Cotterell Court is set for 7 p.m.
