LEWISBURG, Pa. – Colgate tied its season high with 14 steals and outscored Bucknell 22-2 in points off turnovers to overcome a slow offensive start in Saturday's 76-56 win at Sojka Pavilion.
With Colgate's early Saturday win at Bucknell and late losses by both Army and Lehigh, the Raiders have clinched the Patriot League regular season championship. This marks the fourth regular season title in five years for Colgate.
Colgate clinched the program's seventh regular season championship and fourth under head coach Matt Langel. The Raiders claim the title for the fourth consecutive year in the league's full-season format.
Saturday's road victory saw the Raiders make one of their first seven attempts from the floor, with their first two points coming early from Oliver Lynch-Daniels. Bucknell, which led for most of the half, was in front by as many as six points when a jumper from Josh Adoh made it 28-22 with 5:02 left in the half.
But that's when Colgate hit another gear. Richardson and Moffatt both canned triples in a 12-3 closing run for the Raiders, who took their first lead late in the stanza and kept it 34-31 at the intermission. Richardson had nearly half (16) of Colgate's first-half total.
Records was key in the second half and once he got going nobody could stop him. He scored six quick points and blocked a shot in an 11-0 Raider run, which extended Colgate's lead to 45-34 with five minutes gone in the second half.
After recording seven steals in the first half, Colgate's defense kept pace with seven more takeaways in the final 20 minutes. The gritty defense led to transition baskets, with Records serving as the beneficiary – he had 10 points in the first eight minutes of the second half.
Braeden Smith led the team with six assists – none were nicer than his nifty dish to Nicolas Louis-Jacques through two defenders while sliding away from the baseline like a baseball player. Wide open in the corner, Louis-Jacques nailed the 3-pointer to extend the Raiders' lead.
Alex Capitano swished his first 3-pointer to give Colgate its largest lead of the game 76-53 in the final minute. Every Colgate player who dressed found the scoring column, and seven different Raiders recorded at least one steal or one assist in the win.
After a back-and-forth first half and a three-point Colgate lead at halftime, the Raiders outscored Bucknell 42-25 in the second half to pull away for the 20-point triumph.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
"This is a tough place to play and winning on the road is hard. We were solid on defense but we were also fractured by missing some open looks in the first half. In the second half, especially early, our defense led to offense and we really got it going. I'm proud of the group. This is a great win for our team and inches us one step closer to the goals we're trying to accomplish.
"Looking ahead, we were fortunate to win on the road earlier this season at Army – they played extremely well. We will certainly have our hands full on Wednesday but it will be nice to get a day of rest and recovery before a big week for us at home."
NOTES
- Colgate now has nine road wins this season, tied for the most under head coach Matt Langel.
- The Raiders also had nine road victories in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
- Colgate has held their opponent to 63 points or less in seven consecutive games.
- The Raiders shot 50 percent (30-60) from the field, right at its average of 50.6 percent which came in ranked second nationally.
- Colgate averaged 17.7 assists per game this season, good for sixth nationally, and they had 19 in the win.
UP NEXT
Colgate (19-8, 13-1 Patriot) has two home games on deck, starting Wednesday with a rematch against Army at 7 p.m. Keegan Records' game-winning layup with five seconds left in regulation led the Raiders to a 77-75 comeback win over the Black Knights in the first meeting on Jan. 9 in West Point. Colgate hosts Holy Cross at 2 p.m. on Saturday for Senior Day.
