HAMILTON – A red-hot shooting performance propelled the Colgate men's basketball team to a 91-78 victory over first-place Lehigh on Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court.
Colgate scored a season-high 91 points with its most assists (23) and fewest turnovers (5) of any game this season. Four Raiders finished in double-figures, led by
Jordan Burns and
Rapolas Ivanauskas with 23 apiece. Burns registered his second double-double in the last three games with a career-high 12 assists to go with his fourth straight game in double-digits.
Will Rayman dropped 20 points and led the Raiders with eight rebounds, while
Tucker Richardson posted a career-high 17 points with four boards and four assists.
It was a game of runs in the first half, as Lehigh jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Raiders caught fire. A layup from Ivanauskas sparked eight straight points for Colgate, culminating with a three-pointer from Richardson and a 10-7 lead for the Raiders five minutes into the game.
Lance Tejada ended the scoring drought with a basket underneath for the Mountain Hawks, but back-to-back treys from Rayman and Richardson fueled another 12-0 run and Colgate's scorching start fueled a 22-9 lead eight minutes into the opening stanza.
Lehigh, which entered the game with the best three-point field goal percentage in the country, warmed up in the latter stages of the half to close the gap. The Mountain Hawks went on a 6-0 scoring run before closing with five straight points to cut the Raider lead to 39-36 at halftime.
In a back-and-forth battle early in the second half, a three-pointer from Caleb Bennett gave Lehigh a 51-49 lead six minutes in. Colgate answered with an 8-0 scoring run to reclaim the lead for good at 67-60. Burns capped off the scoring with a three-pointer to force a visitor timeout.
The momentum continued for the Raiders, who rode their strong shooting down the stretch to close out the victory. Burns scored nine points as part of a 15-2 run that gave Colgate its largest lead of the game at 85-66 with just over three minutes left.
The Mountain Hawks closed the gap to 13 points but could not get any closer and the Raiders went on to secure the 91-78 victory.
BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 91, Lehigh 78
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate remained undefeated at home and improved to 10-7 overall and 2-2 in league play with the win.
• Lehigh, the preseason favorite to win the Patriot League, saw its three-game winning streak come to an end, falling to 10-5 on the season and 3-1 in Patriot League action.
FROM THE SOURCE
• Colgate head coach
Matt Langel:
On the final result: "Losing the way we did after leading so much at Bucknell just a couple of days ago, I was worried about how we were going to respond because that is really hard to do. We were coming home against a team that has gotten off to a great start and our guys responded well. We did a great job to get an early lead and I thought our group as a whole played really well throughout."
On the team effort: "It was another total team effort.
Malcolm Regisford did not have the big stat line but he gave us huge minutes in the second half with two big blocks and some key rebounds after they hurt us inside in the first half. Will, Rapolas, and Jordan have been our main scorers so far, but Tucker had a great game offensively and defensively as well. We limited our turnovers; we have been turning it over too much and that hurts us on the other end because we don't get a chance to play any set defense so the fact that we only had five turnovers today, our guards did a really good job of managing the game and we made some timely shots."
On any extra motivation against the preseason favorites: "There's no extra motivation. Our guys want to be champions and they know that it takes a lot of hard work and focus on a daily basis. Lehigh is off to a great start and that makes it easier for a coach because you have your guys' attention and they knew what Lehigh could do offensively. Their focus on defense today was where it needs to be."
Looking ahead: "Next week it is two different style of teams. Army is going to play break-neck speed and Boston University has a strong front court and they have guards that can shoot. Both games will be on the road so we need to be really focused on trying to steal games on the road because that is what the best teams in the conference do."
KEY RAIDER NOTES
• With the win, head coach
Matt Langel picked up his 100th career victory at the helm of the Raiders.
• Burns registered his second consecutive game with at least 20 points and notched a new career-high in assists for the second time in the last three games.
• Richardson's 17 points and five three-pointers were both career-highs, and he also tied his best mark with three steals.
• Regisford finished with a season-high two blocks and two steals.
• Colgate's 11 steals were a season-high.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Colgate shot over 60 percent from the field in the second half and 53.7 percent (36-for-67) for the game.
• The Raiders finished with a 36.7 clip (11-for-30) from beyond the arc and 61.5 (8-for-13) free throw percentage.
• Lehigh shot 51.6 percent (32-for-62) from the floor, 45 percent (9-for-20) from three-point range, and 71.4 percent (5-for-7) from the free throw line.
• Colgate outscored Lehigh 24-4 in points off turnovers.
• The Raiders finished with 16 fast-break points to Lehigh's six.
UP NEXT
• Colgate heads to West Point to take on Army on Wednesday with tip-off set for 7 p.m. from Christl Arena.
