Colgate: 2023-24 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

 

HAMILTON, N.Y. (AP) — Brady Cummins scored a career-high 19 points, Braeden Smith had 15 points and 12 rebounds and top-seeded Colgate collected its fourth straight Patriot League Tournament title and NCAA Tournament bid with a 74-55 win over Lehigh on Wednesday.

With its fifth league title in six years, Colgate (25-9) has tied Holy Cross and Bucknell for the most league championships at seven. It was the seventh straight season Colgate played for the championship, the last six on its home court.

Colgate coach Matt Langel tied former Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon for the most Patriot tournament wins with 21 and now has the most league championships with five, breaking a tie with former Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard.

Jeff Woodward added 11 points for the Raiders, who shot 56% and outrebounded the Mountain Hawks 43-28. Nasir Whitlock was the only player to score in double figures for Lehigh (14-18) with 17. Cam Gillus, who scored a career-high 30 points in a comeback 84-79 overtime win against Boston University in the semifinals, finished with eight points.

Leading scorer Tyler Whitney-Sidney, who had 21 against Boston University, finished with seven. Colgate had to rally from a 15-point first-half deficit to beat Bucknell 68-65 in a Sunday semifinal and its two regular-season season victories over Lehigh came by only three-point margins.

But this time against the sixth-seeded Mountain Hawks, the Raiders took a 49-27 halftime lead behind 12 points from Cummins and cruised in the second half, leading by as many as 30.

Colgate: 2022-23 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- — Keegan Records scored 21 points, Tucker Richardson had a triple-double and top-seeded Colgate won its third consecutive Patriot League Tournament championship with a 79-61 victory over six-seeded Lafayette on Wednesday.

The three-peat is the first in the league since Holy Cross accomplished the feat (2000-03). The Raiders were in their sixth straight title game.

The Raiders (26-8) beat the Leopards (11-23) for the third time this season, winning their ninth straight game. The first two wins came on 12- and four-point margins. But the third time around Colgate had a 17-point lead by halftime that reached as many as 24 in the second half.

“I just feel like once we get a lead, we’re just so hard for teams to come back on us because we’ve been in so many big games over the years,” Richardson said in a postgame TV interview.

Records finished 9-of-10 shooting and blocked five shots. League player of the year Richardson, who had double-doubles in the first two tournament games, finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists — the first Colgate triple-double since 1997.

Colgate: 2021-22 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

HAMILTON, N.Y. (AP) — Tournament MVP Jack Ferguson scored 17 points, Nelly Cummings added 15 and Colgate turned away a late Navy push to win the Patriot League championship game 74-58 on Wednesday and return to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.

Tucker Richardson scored 12 points as did Jeff Woodward, who grabbed eight rebounds. Oliver Lynch-Daniels added 10 points, all in the first half, for the Raiders (23-11), who won their 15th straight game, the third-longest active win streak in the nation.

Greg Summers had 18 points and eight rebounds, Tyler Nelson added 11 points and John Carter Jr. 10 for the Midshipmen (21-11), who were playing in their first league championship game since 2001.

Colgate led 40-22 at halftime and seemed to have the game well in hand, leading by 22 midway through the second half when Navy went on a 16-0 run led by seven points from Sean Yoder to get within six with six minutes remaining. While the Midshipmen were shooting 5 of 7 the Raiders missed five straight shots and had three turnovers.

Colgate responded by outscoring Navy — which then had its own spate of turnovers plus five straight misses — 14-4 over the the final six minutes.

Colgate: 2021 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- — Tucker Richardson scored 17 points and Jordan Burns and Jack Ferguson 16 each to lead Colgate to a 85-72 win over Loyola Maryland on Sunday for the Patriot League Tournament championship.

Colgate (14-1) advances to its fourth NCAA Tournament where it's never won. Its last appearance came in 2019.

The top-seeded Raiders, in their fourth straight Patriot League title game, led the entire way in extending their program-record win streak to 13.

"This is as unified a group as I've ever been around," Colgate coach Matt Langel said. "I mean, with everything that's going on in the world they've been able to have difficult conversations and grow as a group. And, you know, amidst COVID and all the obstacles that we face, they just keep coming back for more, and they so love one another."

The Raiders made 14 of 23 3-point attempts for 61%, including 7 of 9 in the second half when they pulled away. Richardson had four 3-pointers and four teammates also hit from behind the arc.

Ryan Moffatt added 11 points and Nelly Cummings 10 for Colgate, which came in averaging over 86.4 points per game, tied with Baylor and second only to top-ranked Gonzaga.

"This is what we've been battling to do the whole season," said Burns, a senior. "It's been a crazy journey, but we're so glad we're the team that came out on top. This year gave us the energy to not take any practice lightly and to just continue to go out there and work hard every single day, and I think that's why when it came down to the end, we were able to stretch that lead and end on a comfortable note."

Jaylin Andrews scored 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting for Loyola. Santi Aldama, sixth in the country in scoring at 21.8 points per game, finished with 13 points after scoring 33 in a semifinal win over Army. Isaiah Hart added 11 points. The Greyhounds shot 47% but made only 5 of 22 3-point attempts.

Loyola (6-11) came into the tournament as the ninth seed with a record of 4-10 after not starting play until mid-January and getting off to a 1-7 start. The Greyhounds trailed only 38-33 at halftime, but an 11-2 run put Colgate up by 17 midway through the second half and the lead remained comfortably in double figures.

The two teams didn't meet during the regular season as the league split into three regional mini-conferences because of COVID-19 concerns. Colgate, which began play Jan. 2, faced only three different opponents until reaching the conference tournament.

Now it's on to the NCAAs where the Raiders know they have a monumental task ahead. In its NCAA Tournament history, Colgate has faced two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2.

"These guys will remember this for the rest of their lives, so we'll have a couple days to get ready for somebody who's really good," Langel said. "We'll have to put a game plan together. I know that our guys will pay attention and now they'll be super excited. I think we're really good team, we've got a lot of dangerous weapons, and can hurt you in a lot of ways, and so if we can find a way to defend and keep somebody from getting easy shots against us, I think we really like our group and I know they'll be ready to go."

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Colgate: 2018-19 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- Jordan Burns had a career-high 35 points and Will Rayman added 18 to lead top-seeded Colgate to a 94-80 victory over No. 2 Bucknell in the championship game of the Patriot League Tournament, giving the Raiders their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1996.

The victory before a standing-room only, overflow crowd, avenged last year's championship game loss at Bucknell. The Bison won last year's title matchup 83-54.

Rapolas Ivanauskas added 12 points for the Raiders (24-10, 14-5 Patriot League), who have now won a school-record 11 straight games.

Kimbal Mackenzie led Bucknell (21-12, 13-6) with 23 points. Nate Sestina had 21 before fouling out.

Burns hit 6 of 9 from 3-point range and 10 of 16 overall. Colgate hit 12 of 21 on 3s and 30 of 52 from the field for 58 percent.

Colgate held a 43-30 halftime lead, but Mackenzie almost single-handedly brought Bucknell back early in the second half. He hit his first four 3s and scored 16 of Bucknell's first 18 points after intermission to bring the Bison to 50-48 with just under 16 minutes to go.

Colgate answered with an emphatic run, scoring six straight as part of a 23-10 spurt to take a 73-58 lead with 8:25 remaining. Burns scored 11 points during the spurt, including consecutive 3s in a 40-second span. A hook shot by Rayman gave Colgate its biggest lead at 78-59 with 6:50 to go and the Raiders were never headed.

Colgate raced to the 13-point halftime lead thanks to Burns and Ivanauskas, who scored 19 and nine points, respectively. The Raiders held a 21-15 lead with a little more than 10 minutes to go in the half when Burns, who averaged 15.1 points during the season, went to work.

The sophomore guard scored 13 of Colgate's next 15 points in less than a three-minute span, nine of those points coming on three 3s as the Raiders extended to a 36-19 margin with less than six minutes to go. Burns shot 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.

Colgate hit 6 of 13 from 3 and held Bucknell to just 4 of 15 from deep and 11 of 32 shooting overall. The Raiders also dominated on the boards in the period, outrebounding Bucknell 23-15.

BIG PICTURE

Bucknell: It was a disappointing ending for the Bison, who seemed to have all the momentum after climbing to within two. They now await an invitation to the postseason.

Colgate: Euphoria is the word in Hamilton and Jordan Burns is the toast of the town as the Raiders await their first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

NCAA Tournament bracket announcement Sunday.