BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Colgate's ninth consecutive Patriot League semifinal appearance ended in a hard-fought 76-69 loss to Lehigh Sunday afternoon at Stabler Arena.Â
Jalen Cox (26) and Andrew Alekseyenko (19) combined for 45 points, but that wasn't enough to offset 30 points from Lehigh's Hank Alvey and 22 from Nasir Whitlock. Sam Wright chipped in 14 points, while Cox led the team with five assists.Â
HOW IT HAPPENED
Colgate never led in the second half despite tying the score four separate times. Alekseyenko's layup leveled the score one last time, 61-61, with 5:43 remaining. Lehigh surged ahead for good with an 11-2 run including eight straight from the foul line to lead 72-63 with 2:03 left. Â
Colgate's full-court pressure brought on three straight Lehigh turnovers and Cox's layup suddenly pulled the Raiders within 72-69 with 1:14 left. Another loose ball in the backcourt led to a potential tying 3-pointer by Josh Ahayere, but it fell short with 35 ticks left.Â
Lehigh finally broke the press and Colgate had to put Lehigh on the free throw line, where the Mountain Hawks extended their lead to two possessions and sealed the 76-69 decision.Â
Colgate shot 41.9 percent overall, 20.8 percent from behind the arc (5-24), and 80 percent from the free throw line (12-15). Lehigh finished with a 54.0 percent clip from the field (27-50), 43.8 percent from behind the arc (7-16), and 65.2 percent from the foul line (15-23).Â
An early 3-pointer by Alekseyenko and back-to-back layups from Ahayere and Cox guided the Raiders to a 9-4 lead. An offensive rebound by Brady Cummins led to a second-chance trey for Wright, who pushed the lead to 19-11 midway through the half.Â
Lehigh caught the game's first run and it started with a contested step-back by Whitlock, who scored or assisted on all three baskets during a 7-0 spurt that trimmed the Raider lead to 21-20 with 6:33 remaining in the opening stanza.Â
Lehigh's extended run turned into a 16-2 rally after Andrew Urosevic's transition 3-pointer gave the home team a 27-21 lead. Alekseyenko scored five points in the final three minutes of the half before Cox's up-and-under trimmed the halftime deficit to 33-30.
Cox scored six unanswered points to tie the game 36-36 less than two minutes into the second half. Lehigh answered with seven straight points – which would be the story of the second half. The Mountain Hawks used mini-spurts every time the Raiders drew even.Â
Lehigh eventually broke away from the 61-61 tie with four unanswered points in its 11-2 run to take its largest lead, 72-63, with just over two minutes left. Colgate couldn't quite fight all the way back, eventually dropping the 76-69 decision.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- Andrew Alekseyenko, Colgate's third Patriot League Rookie of the Year since 2019, capped the season with 17 straight double-figure scoring performances.
- Jalen Cox recorded his 13th 20-point game of the season, the most by a Raider since at least 2010. His three 30-point games were tied with Jordan Burns (2018-19) for the most by a Colgate player in the last 16 years.Â
- Colgate's 76.4 percent scoring average ranks as the third-highest in the Langel era, trailing only 2020-21 (85.2) and 2022-23 (78.1). The Raiders' six 90-point games were the second most under Langel, trailing the 2022-23 team that had seven.
- The Raiders have reached the Patriot League semifinals every year since 2018, a run that includes five championships in the last seven years.Â
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