OPENING TIP
* Lafayette looks to carry momentum to Annapolis on Saturday afternoon, battling for a spot in the top half of the Patriot League standings with Navy. The Leopards are riding a three-game win streak, coming off a 71-67 victory over defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Wednesday in Kirby.
* The Leopards' 80-74 win in Annapolis a year ago snapped an eight-game slide in the series with the Mids. Lafayette made more than 55 percent of its shots in the second half in that contest on its way to a key road victory.
* Saturday's tilt is the start of a stretch of three of the next four games on the road for the Maroon and White, returning home for Army on Wednesday before contests at Lehigh and Colgate to close January.

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Tyrone Perry sunk a triple from the right corner with 2.6 seconds to play and senior co-captain Myles Cherry followed with two free throws at the 1.5-second mark as the Lafayette men's basketball team knocked off Colgate in the program's first-ever School Day game on Wednesday morning/afternoon at Kirby Sports Center, 71-67.

Trailing by a 60-45 score with 6:45 to play, the Leopards flipped the switch in a second half dominated by Colgate up to that point. A 13-0 run over a 2:14 stretch including two triples from Perry forced a Raiders' timeout at 4:31 with the margin just two, 60-58.

After a three from senior co-captain Lukas Jarrett at the top of the key gave Lafayette its first lead since 5:30 left in the first half, the final 2:27 went back-and-forth as Colgate's Nelly Cummings answered a Cherry bucket in the lane to put the Raiders up 67-66 with 1:09 remaining. An offensive foul gave the ball back to the visitors, but Will Rayman missed on a three attempt to set up the biggest shot of the game from Perry.

At the end of the shot clock and the game clock ticking under five seconds, Jarrett drove to the middle and kicked to Perry in the right corner, who launched the winning bucket, a highly-contested three-pointer that caught nothing but net. Colgate threw the ball away on its counter opportunity and Cherry iced the game, making it a two-possession lead with a pair of foul shots and 1.5 seconds on the clock, closing it with a final of 71-67.

The win marked the third straight for the Maroon and White, snapping a seven-game Colgate win streak as the Raiders were the only remaining unbeaten Patriot League squad entering the day. Lafayette gave a lot of the credit for Wednesday's performance to the fifth- and sixth-grade students from Easton Area School District, making it an incredible atmosphere all afternoon. More than 1,200 students filled Kirby Sports Center and were treated to an instant classic.

Perry led all scorers with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-8 from three-point range. Junior Justin Jaworski, Cherry, junior E.J. Stephens and Jarrett all finished in double-figure scoring with 16, 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively, the second time this season Lafayette has put five in double digits.

Jarrett was all over the floor, coming just a few plays shy of a triple-double with nine rebounds and a career-high seven assists to accompany his 10 points. Lafayette committed just four turnovers to 11 assists in the second 20 minutes of action, shooting 49.1 percent from the field on the afternoon (28-of-57).

LAST MEETING
Lafayette would not be denied on Feb. 13, 2019 at Navy, using a 46-point second half on 55.2% shooting from the floor to erase a seven-point halftime deficit in an 80-74 road victory.

The Leopards put five guys in double-figure scoring, led by a game-high 19 from Justin Jaworski. Paulius Zalys added 15, while Kyle Stout, E.J. Stephens and Alex Petrie chipped in with 11, 11 and 10 points, respectively. Lukas Jarrett made an impact as well with seven boards, four assists, three blocks and two steals to go with five points.

Navy controlled the opening half with a 41-34 halftime edge, but the Leopards came out in the second with a purpose, erasing that deficit in less than eight minutes as a Jaworski three at 12:34 put Lafayette in front, 54-53. From there, the Maroon and White had the momentum and never relinquished it, making the shots necessary down the stretch to secure the 80-74 win.

The win was the first for the Leopards over the Mids since Jan. 31, 2015, a 74-65 win in Annapolis, breaking an eight-game skid in the series.

THE SKINNY ON THE MIDS
Navy, picked to finish ninth, just behind the Leopards, in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, has exceeded expectations this season with a 9-7 overall record and a 3-2 mark through the early portion of Patriot League action. The Mids boast a pair of wins over Lehigh and knocked off Bucknell on the road, and their losses include Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. and Colgate at home. Head coach Ed DeChelis is in his ninth season at the helm in Annapolis and 24th overall in his career, returning three starters from a team that finished the 2018-19 campaign at 12-19 overall, but advanced to the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals. 

Navy gets the bulk of its scoring from a pair of stellar guards in Cam Davis and John Carter Jr. at 15.8 and 12.2 points per game, respectively. Greg Summers adds 9.8 points per night and paces a dominant Mids team on the glass at 6.8 boards per game, a key aspect of a +5.9 rebounding margin for the team this season. Freshman Daniel Deaver is also a player to watch after dropping a 25 points in the win the last time out at Lehigh. Deaver has seen action in just nine games this season and scored a total of 16 points before his breakout outing in Bethlehem. 

FIREPOWER OFF THE BENCH
Lafayette treats its starters much differently than most programs in that the five that start are very unlikely to be the five counted on for a lion's share of the production. The Maroon and White are the only team in the Patriot League and one of just two teams in the nation (along with Detroit Mercy) with two of their top-three scorers coming off the bench as E.J. Stephens and Myles Cherry put up 11.8 and 11.1 points per game, respectively, with just one start between them in 2019-20. Stephens and Cherry are the only duo nationally to both average double-figure scoring without starting on a consistent basis.

While senior Kyle Stout gets the start over Stephens, Stephens averages 7.0 more minutes, and the same goes for Cherry, who averages 16.6 more minutes per outing than freshman Neal Quinn, who has started each of the last six games. 

EVERYBODY HITS!
The performance of this year's team from beyond the arc has been outstanding with the group leading the Patriot League and currently 37th in the nation in three-point percentage at 37.3 percent from deep.  The Leopards have five players averaging more than 38 percent from beyond the arc, including three of their top-four shooters in terms of attempts. 

Tyrone Perry, Justin Jaworski and E.J. Stephens are converting at 40.8, 38.4 and 38.0 percent clips from distance, respectively. Even senior Myles Cherry has gotten in on the action, going 6-of-12 from deep this winter, including the game-winner at Cornell, after entering the season with just four career triples over his first three years on College Hill.

O'BOYLE RULES
Freshman Leo O'Boyle has hit his stride since entering conference play, averaging 4.5 more points in league contests than he did over the non-league slate. O'Boyle has been the biggest beneficiary of the transfer of Isaac Suffren in terms of minutes, up to 13.2 per outing in Patriot League contests. The rookie is putting up 6.0 points per game through five conference contests, including a season-best and team-high 14 points on 5-of-9 from the field and a season-high six rebounds in the win over Loyola on Jan. 11. 

O'Boyle isn't the only Leopard to step up his game once the conference schedule arrived as senior co-captain Lukas Jarrett and junior E.J. Stephens have each upped their production in league play. Stephens is up to 13.8 points per game after averaging 10.8 in the non-conference slate, while Jarrett went from 8.5 to 10.3 points per outing at the start of the new year.