WORCESTER, Mass. – Rapolas Ivanauskas buried a go-ahead 3-pointer with just over a minute left in regulation to lead the Colgate men's basketball team to a 74-70 come-from-behind victory over Holy Cross on Wednesday night inside the Hart Center.
Holy Cross held a five-point lead at 67-62 with 3:18 to go after a 3-pointer from Jacob Grandison. The Raiders chipped away and cut the deficit to 68-66 on a pair of free throws from
Jack Ferguson nearly a minute later.
The Raiders forced a turnover on the Crusaders' next possession and Richardson found Ivanauskas at the top of the key for the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:29 showing on the clock. Another Crusader turnover led to a bucket for Ivanauskas and all of a sudden Colgate was in charge, 71-68.
Holy Cross cut the gap to one at 71-70, but
Jordan Burns and
Will Rayman sank three of four from the free throw line in the final seconds to close out the 74-70 victory.
Richardson led four Raiders in double figures with a career-high 20 points and six assists. Rayman and Ferguson each added 12 points and Ivanauskas finished with 11.
It was a battle from beyond the arc early on. Ivanauskas opened the scoring with a bucket inside, and then Colgate scored 24 consecutive points on eight 3-pointers. The latest one, a second of back-to-back treys from Richardson, gave Colgate its largest lead of the half at 26-21 midway through. The Raiders started 8-of-11 from downtown.
The Crusaders battled back with seven of the next eight points to take a brief 28-27 lead on a 3-pointer from Caleb Green. Colgate reclaimed the lead on a layup from
Dana Batt, but it did not last as Holy Cross used an 8-0 run to open a 38-31 lead at the final media timeout of the first half.
The Raiders finished the first half strong with six of the last seven points to go into the locker room down 39-37 after Richardson drove the lane and got a layup to fall as time expired.
A basket from Richardson tied things up at 41-41 early in the second half, and Colgate later pulled out to a 52-46 lead on a trey from Rayman. Holy Cross responded, however, with an 11-0 run to regain the lead, 57-52 at the midway point of the second half.
Colgate scored the next eight points and
Malcolm Regisford gave the Raiders the lead 58-57 with just over seven minutes left. The two teams traded buckets and the score was deadlocked at 62-62 until a jumper from Caleb Green pulled the home team back in front at the final media timeout.
The Crusaders extended their lead to 67-62 before Colgate closed out the final 3:18 on a 12-3 run to seal the 74-70 victory.
BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 74, Holy Cross 70
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate moved to 16-10 overall and 8-5 in the Patriot League with its third straight win.
• Holy Cross is now 13-13 on the season and 4-9 in league action after the loss.
FROM THE SOURCE
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel:
Final take: "Our team has continued to grow and mature. Holy Cross is a really good team; they are very well coached. They play defenses that you don't see a lot and they execute very well. Tonight, they took advantage of every mistake we made but we did not get rattled. It was just a really good, hard-fought win on the road. We needed this one."
On the second-half rally: "Rapolas' shot was big. Their matchup is not normally what he sees but he did not force the ball too much. Every shot mattered tonight. He finished a few around the basket and then his 3-pointer at the end was the dagger we needed."
On Richardson's play: "Holy Cross' defense makes you play basketball. I think that displayed how good of a player Tucker really is. He manipulated the defense on many occasions. His defense was really good tonight. He adjusted well and got himself in position to hit shots."
Looking ahead: "Every game matters. We have another tough road trip this weekend against a good team that we often play a lot of close games with. Hopefully we get healthy and it will be a great challenge this weekend."
KEY RAIDER NOTES
• The Raiders extended their win streak to three straight games, their longest streak since rattling off four in a row Nov. 9-19.
• Colgate has won two consecutive games on the road for the first time since winning at Florida Gulf Coast (Dec. 2) and Columbia (Dec. 5).
• The Raiders set a new season-best 3-point field goal percentage for the second straight game at 52.4 percent (11-of-21).
• Colgate picked up its seventh road win of the season, its most wins away from home since 2007-08.
• The Raiders outscored Holy Cross 37-31 in the second half to win for the second consecutive game after trailing at halftime.
• Richardson's 20 points and seven field goals were both career highs. He finished 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
• Ferguson tied his season high with three assists.
• Rayman finished 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and led Colgate on the glass with six rebounds.
• Five of Ivanauskas' 11 points came in the final 90 seconds.
UP NEXT
• Colgate heads to the nation's capital for a key matchup at American at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
• The Raiders are just one game ahead of the Eagles for third place in the Patriot League standings.
• Colgate defeated American 73-69 in Hamilton on Jan. 6.
