The Colgate men’s basketball team embarked on a two-game road trip this week, losing to Bucknell 69-49 before rallying back against Holy Cross for a 79-74 overtime victory.

Last Sunday, Bucknell forward Patrick Behan scored 24 points and nine boards in 24 minutes off the bench to lead Bucknell. Mike Muscala and Bryson Johnson each pitched in 12 points for the Bison.

For Colgate, first-year point guard Mitch Rolls led Colgate with nine points, six rebounds and three assists. Leading scorer and senior guard Kyle Roemer had an off-night, going 1-for-12 with five points. Colgate as a team shot just 34.6 percent for the game, while Bucknell made 15-of-24 shots in the second half en route to making 53 percent of its field goals for the game. The Bison also scored 40 points in the paint.

Rolls scored eight points early on, and his layup tied the game at nine. Behan dominated from that moment on, scoring a whooping 16 of Bucknell’s 18 points in an 18-6 run that gave Bucknell a 27-15 lead with 7:12 left in the first half. Bucknell led 32-21 at halftime.

The second half was all Bucknell, as the Bison stretched its lead to over 20 points before settling for the 69-49 win.

The Holy Cross game was a different story. Roemer simply would not let Colgate lose this game, accumulating 23 points and 12 rebounds en route to victory. Rolls scored 14, and senior forward Ben Jonson had 12 points and eight asissts.

Roemer scored seven straight points for Colgate in overtime, with one of his six three-pointers on the night giving the Raiders a 73-70 lead.

“Roemer has endured two separate career ending injuries and has bounced back from both stronger and more determined,” Head Coach Emmett Davis said. “He is one of the finest leaders and toughest competitors I have ever coached in 24 years in Division I basketball. He will leave here in the top five in all-time scoring, top two in three pointers made and attempted and many other accomplishments. His March 2008 exploits are as memorable as anything leading the team to most wins in school history and the Patriot league title game scoring 74 points in three games, two shy of the all time tourney record.”

Holy Cross guard Mike Cavataio responded to Roemer with a two-point bucket before Rolls hit two free throws to give Colgate a 75-72 lead. Sophomore center Nick Pascale would later hit two more free throws to give Colgate a five-point advantage. Crusaders point guard Andrew Beinert then hit two free throws to bring Holy Cross within three, but Rolls knocked down two more free throws to seal the game.

Sophomore forward Yaw Gyawu sent the game into overtime after nailing one-of-two free throws with seven-tenths of a second left after being fouled on a layup attempt following an offensive rebound.

Colgate will now host Navy on Saturday at 2 p.m. on Senior Day.