EASTON, Pa. - The Leopards gave the first-place Colgate Raiders all they could handle on Wednesday night in a 73-69 loss in Kirby Sports Center. 

Sophomore Justin Vander Baan set a new career high, scoring 23 points and hauling in five rebounds to lead the Maroon and White. Junior Kyle Jenkins and senior Leo O'Boyle each chipped in with 10 points. Jenkins also hauled in 10 rebounds for his second career double-double and first of the season. 

The first half was a back-and-forth affair that saw both teams shooting better than 50 percent from the field. Vander Baan opened scoring for the Leopards with four quick points. The Raiders made an early run to give them a 21-13 lead at 10:26, with Oliver Lynch-Daniels knocking down three shots from beyond the arc. 

The Maroon and White put together a run of their own, fueled by a three-pointer from junior Eric Sondberg and a Vander Baan layup, to cut the Colgate lead to 23-20. The Raiders jumped out to an eight-point advantage before Vander Baan knocked down his only three-pointer of the evening, with Leopards trailing 34-31 at 4:58. 

Lafayette took its first lead of the night after a Vander Baan dunk, 38-36, just before the end of the first half. Colgate's Tucker Richardson finished a layup to end the first half tied at 38 apiece.

The second half was tightly contested until the final minutes of play. Richardson netted four quick points to give Colgate a 42-39 lead. The Raiders had another small run in them after a three-pointer from Braeden Smith, followed by a Keegan Records layup to give them a seven-point lead, 49-42 at the first media timeout of the second half. The Leopards quickly responded with buckets from freshman Josh Rivera and Jenkins to cut the lead to three, 49-46. 

Sophomore TJ Berger got in on the scoring action to tie the ball game up at 49 after a shot from beyond the arc with 13:28 left in the game. The Raiders then made an 11-4 run fueled by six points from Richardson to give them a 60-53 lead.

The Maroon and White continued to battle during a 7-4 clip which included five points from Sondberg with Lafayette trailing 64-60. Lafayette cut the lead to as little as one point after a jumper from Vander Baan, 66-65, with 5:40 left.

The Raiders closed out the evening on a 7-4 run to clinch the 73-69 final. 

Richardson led Colgate with 17 points and nine assists. The Raiders shot 51.9 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Leopards shot 47.5 percent from the field and were held to only 27.6 (8-of-29) percent from three-point range. Lafayette was nearly even on the glass with the Raiders (34-31). 

The Maroon and White will close out the regular season on Saturday at Bucknell for a 2 p.m. tip-off.