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HAMILTON – The Colgate men's basketball team broke a 48-48 tie with a 14-7 game-closing run to punch its ticket to Wednesday night's Patriot League Championship game with a 62-55 win over Holy Cross in the Patriot League Semifinals Sunday afternoon at Cotterell Court.
The Raiders set a program record with their 19th win of the season and advance to the Patriot League Championship Game for the first time since 2008. Colgate also ties a program record with its 13th home win of the season.
Colgate moves on to face No. 1 Bucknell in Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. Patriot League Championship game in Lewisburg, Pa.
Sophomore
Will Rayman led the Raiders with a monster effort of 22 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Senior
Jordan Swopshire and junior
Dana Batt added eight points apiece, while first-year
Jordan Burns chipped in seven.
Holy Cross scored the first basket of the game before the Raiders answered with 10-straight points. Rayman drained two three-pointers during the streak and the Raider defense forced four Holy Cross turnovers to take a 10-2 lead at the first media timeout.
The Crusaders were within five at 12-7, but five points from a red-hot Rayman were followed by a jumper from senior
Jordan Robertson and a three-pointer from first-year
Jack Ferguson that forced a Holy Cross timeout as Colgate surged ahead 20-7 with 10:23 on the clock.
Holy Cross responded with a 12-2 run over the next six-plus minutes to pull all the way back within three at 22-19 as the clock wound down to 3:48. Rayman added four more points in the half, but the Raiders weren't able to extend their lead as Colgate took a 26-23 lead into halftime.
The Crusaders hit a three to tie the game at 26 less than a minute into the second term. Swopshire drained a trey before Burns added four-straight points to quickly give the Raiders a 33-26 lead at 17:13.
Holy Cross rallied for 12 of the next 16 points to pull in front 38-37 at the 12:50 mark. A Ferguson corner three-pointer then capped off a 7-2 Raider run over the next three minutes to give Colgate the edge at 44-40 with 7:38 to play.
The Crusaders battled back once again to knot the score at 48-48 at the 5:51 mark. Senior
Sean O'Brien made three free throws and Burns followed with a clutch three-pointer to give the Raiders a 54-48 lead with under three minutes to play.
Holy Cross wouldn't get closer than three the rest of the way as Colgate went 8-for-10 from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the 62-55 victory.
BOTTOM LINE
- Colgate 62, Holy Cross 55
WON-LOST RECORDS
- The Raiders improve to 19-12 overall with their program-record 19th win of the season.
- Holy Cross ends the season at 12-19.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- The Raiders are looking for their third Patriot League title in program history and first since 1996.
- Colgate is appearing in its first Patriot League title game since the 2007-08 season.
- The Raiders' 19 wins this season bests the previous school record of 18 set by the 2007-08 and 1992-93 teams.
- Colgate is now 13-3 at home this season, tying a program record for home wins in a season and marking the most home victories since 1926-27.
- Rayman's 22 points marked his sixth 20-plus point performance of the season. He finished 6-for-15 from the field, 3-for-9 from three-point range and 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
- Rayman and Swopshire tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
- O'Brien dished a team-best four assists to go along with five points, three rebounds and no turnovers.
FACTS & FIGURES
- Colgate finished the game shooting just 32.1 percent (18-for-56) from the field. The Raiders were 23.3 percent (7-for-30) from three-point range and 86.4 percent (19-for-22) from the free throw line.
- Holy Cross shot 50.0 percent (21-for-42) from the field, 35.7 percent (5-for-14) from downtown and 88.9 percent (8-for-9) from the charity stripe.
- Colgate pulled down a season-best 17 offensive rebounds. The Raiders held a 15-2 edge in second-chance points.
- Colgate scored 17 points off 13 Holy Cross turnovers. The Crusaders scored just one point off six Raider turnovers.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach
Matt Langel
- "We were playing in a championship environment today and it was really awesome for our guys to have this support at home. Holy Cross has really improved throughout the season and they're very, very well coached so we knew they were going to be ready for every punch we threw at them. Even on a bad shooting night for us, we were able to get enough offensive rebounds and keep our turnovers down."
- "Will Rayman got to the basket and made a couple of shots early. He's a hard person to guard. He's got great size and length and can score from all over. His defense today may have been better than his offense, though. His rebounds, his size and his length helped him make really big plays."
- Message to the team heading into championship: "I want the team to enjoy this experience and be thankful for the opportunity ahead of us. You don't get this chance often, so we need to make sure that we're as focused as we can be and we're getting our bodies as healthy as we can be."
UP NEXT
- The Raiders move on to Wednesday's Patriot League Championship Game to take on top-seeded Bucknell.
- Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. from Lewisburg, Pa. and the game is televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
- The winner earns the league title and the Patriot League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
