HAMILTON – Keegan Records and
Ryan Moffatt combined for 30 points to lead five Raiders in double-figures, and Colgate outscored Holy Cross 45-22 in the second half to pull away for its 10th consecutive victory, 85-55, on Wednesday evening at Cotterell Court.
Records and Moffatt scored 15 points apiece. Braeden Smith and Jeff Woodward scored 12 apiece and Parker Jones 11. Smith added seven assists and four steals, while Moffatt was 4-for-4 from behind the arc and paced the team on the glass with eight rebounds.
The win clinches a top-four seed in the Patriot League tournament, meaning the Raiders will host at least a quarterfinal matchup in Hamilton for the seventh consecutive year. Colgate owns a three-game lead over Lafayette atop the Patriot League standings with five regular-season contests remaining.
COACH LANGEL'S COMMENTS
"Last week was a challenging week with two long road trips. Practices weren't as good as coaches would've wanted this week and we played like it in the first half. Gave up too many second-chance points and didn't have an urgency. We cleaned it up in the second half. Our depth showed up, we played with force inside. We stepped up and made some shots and took care of our responsibilities.
"We have a deep team and a lot of veteran guys. I just put it back on the leadership of the team to do what they know they can do in the second half – help one another and communicate effectively. We were much better in the second half – gave ourselves more opportunities and we took advantage."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Colgate led for most of the opening stanza but the lead was down to one point on the heels of a 5-0 Crusader run that brought the score to 30-29 with 4:04 remaining. Jalen Cox and Moffatt cashed back-to-back triples down the stretch to pull the Raiders in front 40-33 at the intermission.
The Raiders dominated the second half on the strength of 6-0, 7-0, and 10-0 bursts that swallowed more than six minutes of game time. Brady Cummins, Woodward, and Records all scored in the paint to push the lead to double-digits for the first time, 51-39, five minutes into the second half.
Moffatt swished two more treys in the 7-0 spurt before Smith canned another 3-pointer and added a scoop and score to give Colgate a 20-point lead, 72-52. The Raiders closed the game with 10 unanswered points, including five from Sam Wright, to seal the 85-55 victory.
Colgate shot 54 percent overall (33-61) and 52 percent from the perimeter (12-23) while limiting Holy Cross to 33.8 percent from the field (22-65) and 27.3 percent from behind the arc (6-22). The Raiders held the Crusaders to just 28 percent shooting in the second half.
GAME NOTES
- Colgate has now won 22 consecutive home games in February dating back to 2019.
- Colgate's 25-1 record in February since 2020-21 leads the nation.
- The Raiders have won 16 straight head-to-head matchups against Holy Cross.
- Colgate came in ranked 26th nationally in scoring defense (64.7), and has now held each of its last nine opponents below that threshold.
- The Raiders' 10-game winning streak is the third longest active streak nationally. UConn and St. Mary's own the nation's longest win streaks at 12 games apiece.
- Eight of those wins during the current streak have been by double-digits.
- This is the fourth consecutive year in which Colgate has strung together a 10-game winning streak during Patriot League play.
UP NEXT
Colgate (18-8, 12-1 PL) caps off its two-game homestand on Saturday when the Raiders host Bucknell at 2 p.m. With the Raiders earning a top-four seed and hosting rights for at least a Patriot League tournament quarterfinal, stay tuned to Colgateathletics.com for ticket information.
