WASHINGTON – American used an 18-0 second-half run to erase a 14-point deficit and beat the Raiders 61-60, ending Colgate's nation-leading 26-game conference winning streak Saturday evening at Bender Arena.
Colgate took its largest lead of the game after 3-pointers from Oliver Lynch-Daniels and Ryan Moffatt made it 53-39 with 11:48 left in regulation. Those two triples capped off a 12-2 run for the Raiders, who then hit a cold spell and went scoreless for more than seven minutes.
American outscored the Raiders 22-7 for the rest of the game. The Eagles fed off their home crowd to carry an 18-0 run to a 57-53 lead with 5:32 remaining. The Raiders were 0-for-9 during that stretch – and the crowd was louder and louder with every missed shot.
Moffatt's free throw with 4:51 left in the game ended the drought. Colgate cut the deficit to one point on three separate occasions but never led again.
American's Geoff Sprouse missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with four seconds left to give Colgate a chance. Without a timeout, Lynch-Daniels dribbled the length of the court before having the ball poked loose. Braeden Smith picked it up and his three-point shot at the buzzer rattled off the rim. Streak over.
The loss was Colgate's first Patriot League defeat since Jan. 28, 2022, ending the nation's and league's all-time longest conference winning streak at 26 games and 378 days.
American is the first team since Wisconsin in last year's NCAA tournament to score less than 70 and win against Colgate.
Lynch-Daniels led the Raiders with 13 points. Tucker Richardson (12) and Keegan Records (10) were also in double figures.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
"American is a competitive group and we wouldn't have expected anything less. They created some penetration, made some shots, and went on a flurry. We had good looks during their 18-0 run but the shots didn't go. The intensity ramped up and we couldn't answer. We didn't play well enough to overcome our mistakes today.
"Good chance for us to reset and get ready for another good team coming up on Wednesday. Another team that has championship aspirations. We'll see how we can respond to some adversity."
NOTES
- The loss snapped Colgate's 11-game winning streak, the second-longest in the country, its 16-game February winning streak, and its 26-game conference win streak.
- Colgate is 13-1 this season and 33-2 over the last two seasons when holding its opponent to fewer than 70 points.
- Both regular-season meetings between these two teams were decided by one point, and each team had a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
UP NEXT
Colgate (17-8, 11-1 Patriot) is back on the traditional Wednesday-Saturday routine for the remainder of the regular season, starting with a home matchup against second-place Lehigh on Wednesday. Tip-off from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
