HAMILTON, N.Y. - Lafayette took Colgate to the final seconds on Wednesday, winning a 70-69 decision at Cotterell Court. Misha Bednostin collected a crucial defensive rebound in the last three seconds of play to clinch the victory.

Three Leopards in double figures aided in the mid-week outing as Caleb Williams and Mark Butler evenly split 30 points. Christian Humphrey-Rembert secured his third collegiate double-double, contributing 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

Behind six points from freshman Shareef Jackson, the Leopards jumped out to a quick start, leading 8-5 by the 15-minute mark. A handful of defensive stops and eight bench points allowed Lafayette to extend its lead to nine, 18-9, at 10:36.

By the six-minute mark, sophomore KaiMani Murdock knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to hold Colgate at bay, 26-15.

The Raiders got as close as three, 26-23, at 3:54 with an 8-0 spurt. Jalen Cox, who recently surpassed Colgate's 1,000-career points milestone, had four points in the effort.

A bucket beyond the arc by Humphrey-Rembert (1:51) helped keep Lafayette out front, 31-25. Bednostin joined in the final two defensive stops of the half to retain the lead for the halftime break.

To begin the second period, Butler collected an offensive rebound to assist Andrew Phillips' 3-pointer at 18:33. 

Colgate's Josh Ahayere halted the Leopards' momentum with his own 10 points in retaliation, including back-to-back 3-pointers. The 12-3 offensive push to 15:35 gave the hosts their first lead of the evening, 37-34.

The Raiders pushed as far ahead as 44-36 at 12:28 before a Butler layup and-one helped the Maroon and White stabilize on the court. Humphrey-Rembert netted a pair of long-range shots (11:23, 10:32) to pull within one point, 48-47.

Lafayette used an 8-3 stretch in the following two minutes, to resume its earlier advantage with a 55-51 margin at 7:58. Humphrey-Rembert collected the third double-double of his rookie campaign at 6:38 with his 11th point and 12th rebound for a 59-53 lead.

The hosts had three players split 12 points to slowly close the gap to two once again, trailing Lafayette 67-65 with 2:13 left.

Williams made two foul shots to cancel out a pair from Colgate's Andrew Alekseyenko to keep the margin at two, 69-67, heading into the final minute of regulation.

During Colgate's next possession, Cox muscled a driving layup into the net with 54 seconds on the clock for a 70-69 deficit for the Raiders.

Both squads missed their next offensive attempts, resulting in a Raider timeout and subsequent inbound pass by Colgate with 12 seconds remaining. Bednostin snatched the defensive rebound from Sam Wright's missed layup to mark the win.

The hosts outscored the Leopards beyond the arc (38 to 27 percent) as Alekseyenko had a team-high 15 points and five assists for the Raiders. Ben Tweedy put up his own double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Lafayette out-rebounded Colgate 37-34, including an 12-6 margin on the offensive glass. Each team kept to five turnovers. At the charity stripe, the Raiders capitalized on 11-of-14 compared to Lafayette's 9-for-15.

The Leopards return home on Saturday at 1 p.m. to play Army on Senior Day. Lafayette will celebrate the career of Ryan Pettit during pre-game warmups.

 
For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.