After losing to the Army Black Knights by ten points just two weeks ago in West Point, New York, the Colgate Raiders were looking for revenge on their home court on this past Wednesday, January 30. The Raiders seemed ready for vengeance even without one of their top scorers, sophomore guard Jordan Burns, who was on the bench for the third straight time. The Raiders came out with a hot start thanks to junior forward Will Rayman, who started the game with a 19-8 lead right out of the ‘gate. Rayman scored 13 of those 19 points, and Colgate continued their hot start by ending the first half with a six-point lead.

After that, the Raiders took off at the beginning of the second half. Colgate ended up winning 76-59 and never lost the lead the whole game. Rayman never seemed to cool off in the victory, and he ended up with 23 points and 12 rebounds. He did so while shooting very efficiently, 8 for 13 from the field and 3 for 4 from three-point territory.

Rayman wasn’t the only significant contributor in Colgate’s stellar victory. Tucker Richardson, star first-year guard from Flemington, New Jersey, added to a solid overall game with 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Richardson has been a three- point marksman all season, but this game he showed other facets of his game with more shot creativity and drives to the hoop. The announcer proclaimed him as the “Flemington Flyer” and he lived up to that name.

Other important pieces to Colgate’s victory were sophomore guard Jack Ferguson’s 13 points and guard Zach Light’s coming out party. Light, only a first-year, had been relatively quiet for a majority of the season, but played like a man possessed against Army. He was grabbing offensive boards, nailing threes and playing aggressive. Light ended up finishing with 9 points in just 15 minutes. He looks like a vital piece for the Raiders for years to come. The Raiders’ next match up was against Boston University once again on their home court.

Before the game against BU, the Raiders had looked unstoppable on their home court. They were 8-0 and always felt confident in front of their home fans. But at the start of the game against the Boston Terriers, they didn’t look too great by falling down early, 9-2. Although the Raiders fought hard and the game remained close, they had trouble retaining a lead. The game got a little closer with 9:30 left in the first half when Richardson drained a contested three from the top of key. The announcer professed, “Tucker Tickles the Twine,” as the three hit the bottom of the net. At halftime Colgate was down 13, but later in the second half they cut it closer. With a layup from senior center Malcolm Regisford, the Raiders trimmed the lead to just three points with only 4:18 remain- ing. Colgate ultimately lost the game 76- 68, but received great efforts from junior forward Rapolas Ivanauskas and Richardson. Ivanauskas had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Richardson added 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The one statistic that seemed in the Terrier’s favor the entire game was the turnover differential. The Raiders had 16 of them and the Terriers had just six.