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EASTON, Pa. -- The shorthanded Lafayette men's basketball team finished off its regular season on a high note, defeating Colgate, 79-77, at Kirby Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

As the 10 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, Lafayette will either travel to American or Navy based on the outcome of the Bucknell-Navy matchup at 4 p.m. in Annapolis, Md. American will be the seven seed and host the Leopards with a Navy victory, while a Bucknell win changes Lafayette's travel plans to Annapolis with Navy as the seven seed.

Playing without junior co-captain Nick Lindner and senior Zach Rufer, freshman Paulius Zalys was the headliner, posting a career-high 21 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field including 3-of-3 from three-point range. Junior Monty Boykins also put in one of his best games of the season, ripping down nine rebounds to go along with 17 points on the day.

"I thought it was a great team effort. The young guys stepped up and did a tremendous job," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "I thought Auston gave us a tremendous lift when we were down in the first half on the defensive end, and from there we played very well. We made the shots when we needed to, Bryce settled us down, Monty had a great game, so it was just a total team win."

Sophomore Matt Klinewski rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 points on 5-of-7 from the field. Freshman Auston Evans finished all four of his drives to the rim for a season-high nine points.

The Leopards won the rebounding battle for the sixth time this season, 29-28, and shot an excellent percentage from the floor (28-for-59, 57.1%). The Maroon and White hit on 11 of their 21 attempts from beyond the arc (52.4%) and got 67 of their 79 points from the bench due to a senior day starting lineup that included the first career start for Billy Murphy, along with Bryce Scott, Zach Rufer, Ben Freeland and Nathaniel Musters.

"The seniors have been awesome. We've had a very competitive month, but have lost some tough games. They've done a tremendous job character-wise of leading our guys and bringing energy every day," O'Hanlon added. "They get along so well and are really positive people and great role models for our younger guys. All of them have reached the Patriot League finals in two out of their four years and they compete like champions."

Scott went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc for nine points, while Musters and Freeland each grabbed a rebound in 29 minutes of combined action. Murphy hit a three in his time on the court and Rufer was out there for the opening tap, before being pulled due to an injury that would have kept him out under normal circumstances.

Three's from Sean O'Brien and Austin Tillotson over the Lafayette zone opened the game with Colgate on top, 6-0. However, the Leopards responded as Murphy's first points of the season, a triple from the right corner, cut the edge to three, 6-3, and Zalys converted off an offensive rebound from that same corner to tie it at six with 17 minutes to play in the first.

Colgate threw its second punch of the opening five minutes as back-to-back triples from Tom Rivard and Jordan Swopshire pushed the edge to six again. That edge ballooned to 11 on an above-the-rim finish from Dave Krmpotich midway through the half, 25-14.

Lafayette responded over the next two minutes, cutting the lead to six again on an Eric Stafford lay-up with 8:07 on the clock, 25-19. However, Colgate kept pouring in shots from beyond the arc as two more triples forced a Leopards timeout at the 5:54 mark with the advantage out to 11, 31-20.

Six of the next eight went to the Maroon and White as an Evans finish in transition cut the lead to seven, 33-26, with 2:30 to play in the half. A Zalys three and a Stafford put-back brought Lafayette back within four with less than a minute to play, and a Zalys finish through a foul pushed the game into the break with the Leopards down just two, 35-33.

Lafayette came out just as it ended the first as Scott's three from the right side gave the Leopards their first lead of the game, 36-35. The lead changed hands multiple times through the early parts of the second half as Tillotson's three from the top of the key put the visitors up three, 48-45, with 15 minutes remaining.

Triples from Boykins and Scott with less than 13 minutes to play put Lafayette back on top by one, 57-56. However, the game continued to move back-and-forth as a three from O'Brien with less than 10 minutes on the clock made it a four-point edge for the visitors, 61-57.

Colgate opened an eight-point lead with less than seven minutes remaining, but Scott's response from the left baseline made it a five-point game with 6:15 left. Stafford's second three of the season at the four-minute mark cut the edge to two and Zalys added another from the right wing to put Lafayette up one with less than three to go.

A Klinewski finish in the lane with 1:32 on the clock put Lafayette up one, and a stop followed by a Zalys free throw made it 76-74 Leopards with 36.5 seconds remaining. O'Brien came up short on a lay-up off an inbounds pass underneath and Stafford grabbed the all-important rebound and hit 1-of-2 at the 11.7-second mark to push it to 77-74.

Lafayette's choice to foul, up three, paid off as Tillotson free throws were matched by two from Boykins, leaving Lafayette with the lead as time ran out on the visiting Raiders with a final score of 79-77.

The win snapped a 12-game losing streak for the Maroon and White, moving their overall record to 6-23 and 3-15 in Patriot League action.