Box Score

EASTON, Pa. (2/22/12) – Freshman Matt McMullen scored a career-high 14 points but it wasn't enough as the Colgate men's basketball team fell to Lafayette 84-67 Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. With the loss the Raiders clinched the seventh seed in the Patriot League Tournament.

McMullen finished the game 5-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-3 from downtown, to lead the Raiders, while classmate Luke Roh finished with a team-high eight rebounds and four assists, to go along with six points. Junior Mitch Rolls and sophomore Pat Moore scored nine points apiece, while senior Mike Venezia pitched in eight.

Both teams exchanged baskets through the first four minutes of action as Levi Giese connected from downtown to put the Leopards up 8-7 during the first media timeout. The Leopards then continued to connect from deep as Nick Petkovich drained a pair to help Lafayette extend its lead to 16-9 with 12:40 left. But the Raiders would respond with a pair of three's of their own from Rolls and Venezia to make the score 16-15 with 11 minutes remaining, before another three-pointer from Venezia tied the score 19-19 with 10 minutes left. But Lafayette would close the half with a 19-9 run to take a 38-28 lead into the locker room.

Colgate (8-20, 2-11) scored the first three points of the second half to make the score 38-31, but that was as close as the game would get as the Leopards responded with a 20-9 run over the next five minutes to build a 58-40 lead. Lafayette would then extend its lead to 72-51, its largest of the game, with 6:41 left, before McMullen and Rolls both connected from downtown to help cut the deficit to 80-66 with two minutes left. 

Seth Hinrichs finished with a game-high 22 points, while Petkovich pitched in 21 to lead Lafayette. Jim Mower are scored 17 points, while Rob Delaney dished out a game-high 10 assists.

Lafayette (12-16, 7-6) shot 56 percent (28-50) from the floor, including 55 percent (18-33) from downtown, while holding Colgate to 44 percent (25-57) overall and 47 percent (9-19) from deep. Colgate did win the battle on the boards 32-27 and only committed nine turnovers in the loss. 

Colgate will host its regular season finale against Holy Cross on Saturday, Feb. 25. The game is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. at Cotterell Court and will be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sports.