Men’s Basketball Goes 1-1 On Weekend: Colgate Bests Navy 55-52 in Nailbiter

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Junior guard Jordan Robertson contributed heavily to the Raiders’ success against Navy, adding seven points of his own during his 19 minutes of play; other contributions came across the board.

    The Colgate men’s basketball team went 1-1 this week with two close games against Holy Cross and Navy. On Wednesday the Raiders fell 56-50 on the road at Holy Cross. Colgate started strong with an early 6-3 lead, but the Crusaders responded with a strong run, putting Holy Cross up 15-8 with 12 minutes left in the first half. At the 8:20 mark, Tom Rivard hit a three-pointer, tightening Holy Cross’ lead to just 17-13.  The Crusaders followed with a 7-2 run over the next four minutes. At the 2:54 mark, Sean O’Brien led a strong Colgate offensive push with a three. The Raiders then had an 8-3 run that brought the score to 26-23 Holy Cross with under a minute to play.  The half ended with the Crusaders up 29-24.

    The Raiders came out of halftime with a strong push bringing them within two at 30-28, but Holy Cross responded with a few of their own points. Junior Jordan Swopshire scored the next five points to give Colgate the lead, 33-32 at 14:55 for the first time since early in the game. Holy Cross pushed forward with five points but with O’Brien’s three and a free throw from sophomore Malcolm Regisford, the game was tied at 37. For the next three minutes the lead went back and forth until the Crusaders had an eight-point run, giving Holy Cross the 47-40 lead with just over five minutes to play. Swopshire fired back, scoring the Raiders’ next six points and bringing Colgate within five at 51-46 with just under four minutes left in the game. Holy Cross added a lay-up with 2:55 left to make it 53-46 and Colgate never recovered. Holy Cross finished with a 56-50 win over Colgate. Despite the loss, there were some highlights. Swopshire got his first double double of the season with 17 points, a personal high for Patriot League games this season, and 10 rebounds.

    The Raiders bounced back from the Wednesday loss to defeat Navy 55-52. The Raiders started strong with Jordan Swopshire scoring seven straight points to help Colgate jump out to an early 11-2 lead. Colgate pushed forward with a dunk from Malcolm Regisford, O’Brien layup, and Jordan Robertson alley-oopto gain a 22-9 lead with 9:14 left. Navy finished out the half strong scoring six points in the final three minutes of the half compared to Colgate’s three. Colgate maintained a steady lead of 31-23 going into halftime.

The second half started with a 13-6 Navy run followed by a 7-0 Colgate run giving Colgate the lead at 48-38 with 7:38 on the clock. Navy responded with nine of the next 12 points, giving Colgate just a four point lead with under three minutes left in the game. Colgate later held the lead 53-49 with just over a minute on the clock. With 48 seconds left Navy hit a three-pointer to bring the Colgate lead to just one point. Colgate didn’t score on their next possession giving the ball to Navy with 23 seconds left. Navy missed a few chances before O’Brien captured the rebound, drew the foul, and hit both free throws. Colgate was up 55-52 with seven seconds left. With a strong defensive front, the Raider’s stopped Navy’s last effort giving Colgate the 55-52 win.

    “We were poised and made a lot of really good decisions. We made some timely shots and certainly made some big free throws. We did a good job of not giving them the best of looks,” Head coach Matt Langel said.

Coming off the close loss to Holy Cross, the Raiders responded with this strong Patriot League win giving them an in-conference record of 6-6. Colgate hosts Army this Wednesday at 7 at Cotterell Court.