HAMILTON, N.Y. - Despite leading for just less than 35 minutes, a late surge from Colgate stole a victory from the Lafayette men's basketball team in the Patriot League opener on Wednesday evening in Hamilton, N.Y. by a 77-70 final.
The Leopards took a 40-32 edge into the halftime intermission and led by as many as 10 midway through the second half, but eight straight from the Raiders with six minutes to play shifted the game to the home side. That momentum never left as Colgate (5-8, 1-0) made its free throws and Lafayette remained cold down the stretch to drop to 3-9 on the year and 0-1 in league action.
The two Lafayette captains were the majority of the offense for the Maroon and White as senior Bryce Scott dropped in a game-high 21 points, while junior Nick Lindner added 20 of his own. Senior Ben Freeland gave his best performance of the season, grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with four points and a block in 20 minutes of action.
The Leopards went 27-for-63 from the field (42.9%), but hit on just 7-of-26 from outside (26.9%), going 0-for-12 in the second stanza. On the other side, Colgate shot 24-for-52 from the floor (46.2%) and 5-for-20 from distance (25.0%). The Raiders had four players in double-figures, led by 17 from Dave Krmpotich.
Lafayette came out firing as five points from Scott and a block on the first defensive possession from senior Nathaniel Musters gave the Leopards a 5-0 lead after the opening minute. After a pair of buckets brought the Raiders within one, five straight again, this time from Lindner, pushed Lafayette's edge to six, 10-4, with 16 minutes to play in the first half.
The Leopards continued to control the game through the midway point of the opening half, taking an 18-8 lead into the 12-minute timeout. A triple from Tom Rivard and a put-back layup by Krmpotich with nine minutes left brought the Raiders back to within five, though, at 20-15.
Colgate pulled to as close as three, but a big-time answer from Lindner in transition pushed the edge back to seven, 23-16, with 7:45 left. That lead continued to grow as the next six came off the hands of Leopard players to make it 29-16 with 5:56 on the clock.
Colgate responded over the next three minutes, pulling to within seven at 34-27. However, Lafayette again had the counter as Scott nailed his third triple on the right wing with 1:20 left to push the lead to nine, 38-29, and help the Leopards into the halftime break with a 40-32 advantage.
The second half picked up where the first left off as both teams traded buckets in the early going. Freeland grabbed his seventh rebound and put back the layup with 16:30 to play to put Lafayette up 10, 46-36.
Six back from Colgate over the next two minutes forced a timeout from head coach Fran O'Hanlon at the 14:34 mark with the lead down to four, 46-42. The Raiders cut it to three a number of times over the next six minutes but Lafayette continued to push it back to five again and again, leading 56-51 with 8:17 left.
Defensive positioning from Evans forced a turnover and a Boykins finish in transition at the 7:56 mark finally broke the cycle of traded buckets, moving the Leopards' edge back out to eight, 59-51. However, Colgate came right back, hitting eight straight to make it a one-possession game again at the 5:44 mark, 61-59.
Free throws from Alex Ramon made it a tie game at 61-61 with five minutes remaining, erasing what was at its largest a 13-point advantage. Then, a steal from Sean O'Brien led to free throws after a foul on the break to give Colgate its first lead, 63-61, but an answer from junior Monty Boykins on the next possession tied it at 63 with just less than four minutes on the clock.
Six more from the Raiders over the next pair of minutes put momentum on the home side with 2:12 left and a 69-63 lead. Lafayette cut back within three, but Krmpotich made a move on Freeland through the lane and finished through a foul to push the edge back to six with a minute remaining, 72-66.
That bucket took the wind out of the sails for the Leopards as the Raiders continued to hit their free throws down the stretch to finish off a 77-70 victory.
Lafayette opens its conference home slate on Saturday, hosting Loyola at 2 p.m.
