February 25, 2015

EASTON, Pa. – Colgate dropped in 33 of its 50 shot attempts (66.0%) on Wednesday evening at Kirby Sports Center to diminish the Lafayette men’s basketball team’s hopes of hosting a game in the Patriot League Tournament with a 95-83 victory.

Lafayette can still finish as high as the four seed, which gets to host a quarterfinal game, with a win on Saturday at Army and losses from both American and Boston U. With a loss, the Leopards can fall as low as the seven seed in the Patriot League Tournament.

“We spotted them a big lead right from the start and couldn’t get stops when we needed to,” head coach Fran O’Hanlon said. “We’re not going to win many games when our opponent shoots like that.”

Sophomore Nick Lindner poured in a career-high 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line to lead the Lafayette attack. Senior Dan Trist and junior Bryce Scott chipped in with 19 and 13 points, respectively.

The Raiders were led by 28 points from Damen Sherman-Newsome, one of four Colgate players in double-figures. Joining Sherman-Newsome were Luke Roh with 21 points on a perfect 9-for-9 from the field and 3-for-3 from the charity stripe, Ethan Jacobs with 15 points and Austin Tillotson with 14.

Colgate’s 95 points were its highest offensive output of the season and the second-most points given up by the Leopards this season, surrendering 96 to then-No. 10 Kansas on Dec. 20. Additionally, the Raiders’ 66.0 percent from the field is the highest against Lafayette this year.

“Right now, all we’re thinking about is the Army game,” O’Hanlon added. “It’s important for us to finish on a high note and then whatever happens in the playoffs happens.”

Colgate opened the game hot, draining four of its first five shots to take a 9-5 lead into the first media timeout. The Raiders continued their surge through the midway point as 11 straight moved their edge to 15 at 20-5 with 12:30 left.

Scott drained a triple off a feed from senior Joey Ptasinski at the 10:30 mark to end a drought of over seven minutes without a field goal. However, Pat Moore came right back on the other end and dropped in one of his own to make it 25-10 with less than 10 to play in the first.

With five minutes to play in the half, Colgate’s Matt McMullen stepped in front of pass and looked to have an easy run-out. Instead, he missed the dunk and senior Seth Hinrichs came back the other way with a feed to sophomore Monty Boykins for an easy two to cut the edge to 14 at 32-18.

That play shifted momentum in the Leopards’ favor as seven back from Lafayette made the lead single digits again at nine with 2:49 left in the half. Lindner’s triple from the top of the key with 34 seconds left cut it to four at 34-30, but Tillotson drained a half-court heave at the buzzer to send the game into the locker room with the Raiders in front, 39-32.

A back-and-forth affair summed up the opening four minutes of the second half as both teams traded baskets with the Leopards picking up a point, 47-41. Colgate picked up six points, though, over the next five minutes, using solid defense to take a 59-47 lead at the 11:46 mark.

A pair of buckets at the midway point of the second brought the Leopards within eight again at 61-53, but an easy bucket off an inbounds pass made it 10 again with nine minutes left. Colgate kept its lead in double-digits throughout the next four minutes, but a pair of threes from Lindner got the edge under 10 again at 70-61 with 5:24 left.

Unfortunately, that spurt from Lindner didn’t shift momentum as Colgate continued to hold a double-digit edge through the next three minutes, in front 82-71 with less than two minutes remaining. The Raiders made their free throws down the stretch and finished out the game with a final score of 95-83.

The Leopards will host Senior Day on Saturday as Army comes to College Hill for a 12 p.m. battle in each team’s final regular season game. Lafayette’s four seniors Alan Flannigan, Seth Hinrichs, Joey Ptasinski and Dan Trist will be honored prior to the game.