January 28, 2015

Box Score

HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Lafayette men's basketball team got a much-needed win over league-leading Colgate on Wednesday evening in Hamilton, N.Y., 59-54. Sophomore Nick Lindner hit both sides of a one-and-one twice in the final 13.3 seconds to ice the win for the Maroon and White.

The victory moves Lafayette to 4-5 in Patriot League action and 12-8 overall on the season. Senior Dan Trist led the way with 24 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field, while junior Bryce Scott had arguably his best performance of the season, tallying nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. Scott also drew the assignment of Colgate's leading scorer on the defensive end in Damon Sherman-Newsome, who was held to 11 points from the field, 4.8 points below his 15.8 points per game average for the year.

Lafayette's victory was its biggest comeback of the season after trailing by seven at the break, 32-25. The Leopards went 23-for-52 from the field (44.2%), 6-for-17 from beyond the arc (35.3%) and 7-for-10 from the charity stripe (70.0%), and picked up 13 points off of 14 Colgate turnovers. The Maroon and White also won the battle on the glass for just the sixth time this season, 30-29.

A left-wing triple from Scott at the 15:20 mark knotted the game at seven after Colgate held 5-2 and 7-4 leads in the first four minutes of the contest. Colgate responded with points on back-to-back possessions, however, to push out to a five-point edge at 12-7 with 14 minutes left in the half.

Over the next three minutes, the Raiders used a 11-2 run to take a 18-9 lead on either side of the 12-minute media timeout. A Joey Ptasinski triple at the 10:14 mark ended a four-minute scoring drought for the Leopards, who trailed 18-12.

A pair of buckets from Trist at the eight-minute mark continued Lafayette's first surge of its own, cutting the Colgate lead to three at 19-16. However, each defensive stop brought an inability to convert on the offensive end for the Leopards, who couldn't close the gap through the latter stages of the half, trailing 29-23 with 2:03 to play.

A backbreaking triple from Ethan Jacobs at the top of the key with four seconds left on the clock moved the game into the halftime break with the Raiders on top, 39-32.

The Leopards came out in the second half cutting the edge to five, but could not convert offensively after defensive stops to really threaten the Colgate lead. A three-point play from Jacobs at the 15:46 mark pushed the advantage back out to eight at 42-34.

Five straight, including a corner three from junior Zach Rufer out of the media timeout, cut the edge back to three again at 42-39 and a triple from sophomore Monty Boykins, who earned his fourth straight start, on the left wing knotted the game at 42 with 12:30 remaining. With 10:06 to play, Lindner worked off a high screen and hit from the left elbow to give the Maroon and White their first lead of the game at 46-45.

A tough jumper from the left elbow falling away from Sherman-Newsome at the seven-minute mark knotted the game at 49 and a perfectly executed inbounds play was finished by Luke Roh as Colgate took the lead back with 6:05 to play. Out of the timeout, though, Trist finished a feed from Scott at the rim to tie it up at 51.

After another from Trist at the 4:51 mark gave the Leopards the 53-51 edge, Lindner drove and drew a foul with 1:48 to play but couldn't get either to fall as the game remained tight. An important stop on the defensive end and a jumper from Trist at the top of the key with 41 seconds left gave Lafayette its largest lead of the game at 55-51.

After cutting it to a three-point game at 55-52, Colgate fouled Lindner twice in the final 15 seconds of the game, but the sophomore came through for his team, hitting all four free throws in the one-an-one situation to ice the game for Lafayette, 59-54.

Lafayette remains on the road through the weekend, traveling to Annapolis, Md. to start the second half of Patriot League action at Navy on Saturday. Tipoff at Alumni Hall is set for 7 p.m.