EASTON, Pa. – Senior Myles Cherry fought for an offensive rebound and scored on a put-back with 33 seconds to play for the eventual game-winning bucket in his third career double-double as the Lafayette men's basketball team opened its season with a thrilling 65-63 victory over Columbia at Kirby Sports Center.
 
Cherry added 14 points to his 11-rebound performance, both team-highs, while also tying for the team-lead in assists with four to go along with two steals and a block. The Newcastle, Australia native went 7-of-8 from the floor with four of his rebounds coming on the offensive end.
 
Following Cherry's bucket, it was up to the Lafayette defense to close it out and they did just that as a deep Columbia effort at the buzzer clanked off the rim as the horn sounded. Cherry's performance on the glass led a dominating effort on the boards, leading 37-27 overall.
 
Lafayette committed 22 turnovers on the night, but made up for that with efficient shooting when they were able to finish possessions with shots. The Leopards went 26-of-50 from the field overall (52.0%), knocked down 8-of-20 from beyond the arc (40.0%) and converted on all five of their free-throw attempts.
 
Senior Lukas Jarrett was the only other Leopard in double-figure scoring with 10 points on 4-of-5 from the floor and 1-for-2 from three-point range. The offense was incredibly balanced for the Maroon and White as nine different Leopards got in the scoring column and seven tallied six or more points on the night.
 
The win moves Lafayette to 66-45 all-time in season openers and 2-2 in season openers at home in the Fran O'Hanlon era. The win is the first to open a season since the 2014-15 season when the Leopards defeated Robert Morris on the road by a 77-50 final.
 
Jarrett found the bottom of the net on the opening possession, but it was the defenses from both sides that started the game strong with Columbia up 5-3 after the opening five minutes. Lafayette settled in over the next four-minute stretch, though, as Cherry regained the lead for the Maroon and White with a baby hook in the lane for an 11-9 advantage.
 
Lafayette began to work with the lead from that point as it rose to a five-point advantage on a Justin Jaworski three, extending his streak to 49 straight games with a triple, the second-longest in the nation. A 5-0 mini-run from the Lions brought the game back even with less than three minutes to play at 28-28, but Lafayette finished the half with the final four points, highlighted by a powerful above-the-rim finish in transition from Jarrett, to take a 34-31 lead into the halftime break.
 
Columbia came out of the break with energy, scoring the first five points to take a 36-34 lead, but Lafayette responded with eight straight of its own capped off by a Kyle Stout three on a beautiful kickout find from Cherry to make it 42-36 at the 16-minute mark. Columbia made a move again to pull within two, but another 8-0 spurt from the Leopards forced a visiting timeout at the 12:59 mark with the lead in double figures, 50-40.
 
The back-and-forth continued over the next five-minute stretch as a pair of buckets from the Lions' Mike Smith made it 54-51 at the 8:47 mark, but Tyrone Perry's layup on a drive down the right side of the lane made it 56-51 at the under-eight break. The game got interesting as it moved to the latter stages with Smith's layup at 2:24 making it a two-point game, 63-61.
 
A Maka Ellis driving layup tied the game at 63 with 46 seconds to play, but Lafayette converted out of a timeout with Cherry's put-back with 33 seconds to go. After a driving layup fell off the rim from Jaworski, Cherry was there with his 11^th board to clean it up and give the Leopards the 65-63 advantage and the victory after a defensive stop.
 
The Leopards head on the road for the first time in their next contest on Saturday, traveling to Brooklyn, New York for a meeting with St. Francis Brooklyn at 2 p.m.