EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette men's basketball team did everything it could to knock off the eventual Patriot League regular season champions on Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center, but the Raiders pulled away late on the free-throw line to down the Maroon and White by a score of 76-70.

With the loss and other results around the Patriot League, the Leopards have been slotted into either the seven or the eight seed, securing a home game in the Patriot League Tournament First Round on Tuesday night. Tickets are available via GoLeopardsTickets.com. Lafayette will pay close attention to tonight's Lehigh-Loyola matchup in Baltimore as a Lehigh win makes Tuesday's opponent Loyola, while a Loyola win sends Holy Cross to Kirby.

The Maroon and White gave Colgate all it could handle for 30 minutes, leading at halftime by a 31-26 score and by a six-point margin, 52-46, with less than 11 minutes to play. Then came the Raiders' response, using a 17-3 run over a five-minute stretch to swing the game in their favor, up 63-55 with 5:34 left.

Lafayette fought back to tie it twice on three's from sophomores Alex Petrie and Justin Jaworski in the final two minutes, sending the game to the deciding stretch at 68-68. A triple from Colgate's Will Rayman at the 45-second mark and 5-for-6 for the visitors from the foul line to close it out thwarted the Leopards' comeback.

Four different Lafayette players finished in double-figure scoring, led by a game-high 21 from Jaworski on 4-of-9 from distance. Senior co-captain Paulius Zalys and Petrie added 16 each, while sophomore E.J. Stephens scored 10 with a career-high nine rebounds. Zalys and classmate Auston Evans earned the start on Senior Day as they were honored in a pregame ceremony with their families.

The Leopards went 23-of-52 from the floor on the afternoon (44.2%) and hit 9-of-27 from distance (33.3%), but uncharacteristically struggled from the foul line, hitting just 62.5 percent from the stripe (15-of-24). Colgate went 23-for-56 overall (41.1%) and 9-of-22 from distance (40.9%), making 21-of-26 from the free-throw line.

Rapolas Ivanauskas led the Raiders offensively with 15 points, while Dana Batt, Malcolm Regisford and Jack Ferguson added 12, 11 and 11, respectively. The win clinches Colgate the Patriot League regular-season title and the top spot in the Patriot League Tournament.

Tuesday's tournament game at Kirby Sports Center with an opponent still to be determined will begin at 7 p.m. Check back to GoLeopards.com daily for updated information leading up to Tuesday's tilt.