Feb. 22, 2012
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette capitalized on a pair of 20-point performances from Nick Petkovich and Seth Hinrichs en route to an 84-67 victory over Colgate on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Petkovich set new career-highs with 21 points on seven threes and Hinrichs scored 22, a new career-best, on 7-of-9 shooting and four treys. Rob Delaney also contributed 10 assists on Lafayette's 28 made field goals.
A pair of corner threes from Petkovich surrounding a jumper from Colgate's Sterling Melville and a Levi Giese layup gave Lafayette (12-16, 7-6) a 16-9 lead with 12:40 showing on the first-half clock. Following two Colgate threes, one each from Mitch Rolls and Mike Venezia, Petkovich drained his third long ball of the half to give Lafayette a 19-15 advantage at 10:43.
Leading 24-23 after Jim Mower's right-handed driving layup and foul, resulting in a three-point play, Lafayette sank back-to-back threes. Petkovich hit another from straightaway before Mower connected from beyond, stretching the lead to seven, 30-23, with 3:26 until halftime.
The Leopards led by as many as 10 points on two different occasions. Les Smith's steal and transition layup made it 35-25 and then Petkovich answered Pat Moore's trey on the next possession to make it 38-28. Venezia missed a jumper to end the half and Colgate (8-20, 2-11) went into the locker room trailing by double digits. Petkovich finished the half 5-of-7 from outside the arc for 15 points.
After scoring three points in the first half, Hinrichs opened the second half by scoring 17 straight points, including a four-point play on a corner three to put Lafayette ahead 52-37 with 15:42 to play. After a media timeout, Hinrichs drilled another from deep to extend the Leopards' lead to 55-38.
Colgate's Luke Roh converted a lay-in prior to Petkovich ending Hinrichs' run with a trey off a feed from Mower to add to Lafayette's lead and stretch it to 58-40. Moore hit a three for Colgate before Petkovich eclipsed his career-high with his seventh three and 21st point.
Mower got in on the three-point shooting show, draining two triples to push the lead to 72-51 with 6:41 to play. Mower's pair of threes plus another with four minutes to play gave Lafayette its seventeenth three-pointer. Mower finished the game with 17 points.
Ryan Willen put the punctuation mark on the game with his corner three, giving the Leopards a season-high 18. Matt McMullen scored a team-high 14 points for Colgate.
Lafayette wraps up the regular season on Saturday when it travels to Washington, D.C. to take on American at 4 p.m. The game will nationally televised on CBS Sports Network (DirecTV 613, DISH Network 152) and GoLeopards.com will carry an audio-only broadcast.
Notes:
Tony Johnson left the game with an injury and did not return after playing four minutes in the first half.
Second time this year two players scored 20+ points in the same game. Willen and Mower had 22 apiece at St. Francis (Pa.).
By virtue of Holy Cross' victory over Army, Lafayette will be the fifth-seed in the Patriot League tournament.
