(Boxscore)

HAMILTON, N.Y. (1/10/07) – Bilal Abdullah scored 16 points, including a pair of crucial free throws with 14 seconds left, as Lafayette held on for a 71-65 win over Colgate in a Patriot League game Wednesday night at Cotterell Court.

 

Lafayette (7-10, PL 1-1) snapped a three-game losing streak, while Colgate falls to 6-9 overall and 1-1 in the league.

 

Other Lafayette players in double figures were Everest Schmidt with 12 points and Ted Detmer with 11 points and eight rebounds.

 

Colgate was led by Jon Simon (Phoenix, AZ) with a season-best 24 points, followed by Kendall Chones (Cleveland, OH) with 13 points and six rebounds.  Chones has been in double figures in six straight games for the Raiders.

 

Lafayette shot 64 percent from the field, including a blistering 72 percent in the first half, while Colgate managed only 39 percent, making only 5-of-22 from behind the arc.

 

The Leopards scored the first 13 points of the game as Colgate missed its first eight shots before Simon hits a 3-pointer with 15:34 remaining.  Simon’s basket was the started of a six-point run that got the Raiders back to within seven points.  Lafayette, however, scored the next seven points for a 14-point advantage with 9:36 left. 

 

Colgate got the deficit back to single digits, 30-21, with 2:48 left, before Abdullah and Matt Betley hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Lafayette en route to a 38-23 halftime lead.

 

In the second half, Lafayette led by as many as 17 points before Colgate came back to trail by two points, 65-63, with 39 seconds left.  Lafayette’s Andrew Brown made a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to push the lead back to four points, before Colgate’s Willie Morse scored on a lay up with 20 seconds remaining to bring the Raiders back to within two.

 

Abdullah made a pair of free throws with 14.9 seconds left for the Leopards, and then sealed the victory with a lay up at the buzzer.

 

Colgate out-rebounded the Leopards, 31-23, led by Chones’ six boards, and five by Alex Woodhouse (Alexandria, VA) and Kyle Chones (Cleveland, OH).

 

The Raiders will play their next three games on the road, beginning with Saturday’s Patriot League contest at American University.