Box Score
EASTON, Pa. (3/3/10) – Lafayette guard Jim Mower scored 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting as the Leopards defeated Colgate 73-65 in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
The Leopards made 10 three-pointers, some of which ended key Colgate runs.
Senior guard
Kyle Roemer (Martinez, Calif.) along with sophomore forward
Yaw Gyawu (Lilburn, Ga.) and freshman point guard
Mitch Rolls (Coffeyville, Kan.) each had 15 points to lead Colgate. Sophomore center
Nick Pascale (DeWitt, N.Y.) had eight points to along with nine rebounds.
Lafayette took the lead for good after Mower hit a three-pointer to put the Leopards up 8-6 early in the game. A 14-4 Leopards run would give them a 26-14 lead after Mower made another three-pointer. Colgate responded with six straight points to make the score 26-20 with six minutes left, but a Mower three-point play kick started a 15-5 run that gave Lafayette a 41-25 lead. Roemer made a three-pointer before halftime, and the Leopards took a 41-28 lead into the locker room.
Two Roemer three-pointers helped the Raiders along a 10-2 run that brought Colgate within 48-43 with 13:50 left. Lafayette responded with an 8-0 run, thanks to a two-point bucket and a pair of three-pointers. Roemer would later make a layup to cap a 5-0 run that brought Colgate within 56-50 with 9:46 left, but that’s as close as the Raiders would get. Gyawu made a layup with 2:33 left to make the score 68-61 in Lafayette’s favor with two-and-a-half minutes left, but Mower once again came through with a three-pointer to seal the game.
The Raiders (10-19, 6-8) return all but two players next season, and look to welcome junior
Mike Venezia (Westfield, N.J.) and sophomore
John Brandenburg (St. Louis, Mo.) back to the court as well as the class of 2014.