HAMILTON – Colgate extended its nation-leading conference winning streak to 26 games and improved to 11-0 in the Patriot League with a 76-63 win over visiting Loyola Monday night.
Ryan Moffatt paced four Raiders in double-figures with 19 points behind a season-high five made 3-pointers. Braeden Smith scored 16 points and dished seven assists, Oliver Lynch-Daniels had 15 points, and Tucker Richardson finished with 12 points and eight assists.
Colgate closed the final four minutes on a 12-5 run to pull away for its 11th consecutive win and complete the regular season sweep of Loyola. Lynch-Daniels sparked the run with a floater in the lane and capped it off with a driving layup to give him seven points in the surge.
The Raiders came into the game ranked second nationally in field goal percentage (50.9) and connected on 57 percent Monday night, including 10-of-20 from behind the arc led by eight combined triples from Moffatt (5) and Lynch-Daniels (3).
Colgate led 38-28 at the half and stretched the margin to 18 (52-34) after Smith took a loose ball and heaved it the length of the court to Richardson for a spinning layup with 15:53 left in the game. Smith had five points and the Raiders were 5-for-5 from the field during the run.
Loyola stole the momentum and established a 16-6 response broken up by a pair of 3-pointers from Moffatt and Smith. The Greyhounds' Golden Dike scored the last four points of the run to bring the visitors within 62-57 but that was as close as they would get.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Moffatt and Lynch-Daniels highlighted Colgate's final run and the Raiders rebuilt a double-digit lead to pull away down the stretch for the 76-63 victory.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
"Our guys battled early in the second half to gain some separation. Loyola played well, gambled for some steals, and the next thing we know we're in a dog fight having lost the momentum. But our guys responded – they continue to respond and that's why we can look back on January without a hiccup. Not that we played great in all those games, but the experience, leadership, togetherness, and toughness of the group once again found a way to win."
"Looking ahead to American, they're really well-coached and they're a tough-minded group. They played well against us here and I wouldn't expect anything less for the game on Saturday."
NOTES
- Colgate has now won its last three games by at least 12 points after going five consecutive games with a winning margin of six points or less.
- The Raiders capped off a perfect January (10-0) and move into February, a month they went 11-0 in 2022 during last year's late-season winning streak.
- Colgate improved to 13-0 this season and 33-1 over the last two seasons when holding its opponent below 70 points.
UP NEXT
Colgate (17-7, 11-0 Patriot) makes the trip to the nation's capital for Round 2 against American on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Raiders hung on to beat the Eagles 62-61 in the first meeting in Hamilton on Jan. 21.
