by Josh Lamel Maroon-News Staff

The learning experience continued for Colgate Basketball over break, as the men lost to nationally ranked Penn 93-58 and a tough Manhattan team 54-51 in the ECAC Holiday Festival held on December 27 and 29 at Madison Square Garden. They came home for three games, defeating Vermont 95-91 and Fordham 85-78 in an exciting double overtime thriller. They dropped the third game to vastly under-rated Canisius, 80-76. They also fell on the road to Holy Cross 81-65.

This brought their overall record to 3-10, (1-1 in the Patriot League) going into last Saturday's all important game against 7-6 Lehigh, who was 2-0 in the league. Colgate rebounded from their embarrassing loss to Holy Cross with a 93-85 victory over Lehigh.

The games opening minutes set the pace for Colgate as junior Mike Roberts had a hot hand, scoring eight of Colgate's first ten points, jump-starting the team to a 10-2 lead. This quick start showed the hard work the team had done in practice after the Holy Cross game, and showed an intensity that had been missing. Junior Brendan Tuohey, who has emerged as a major contributor as a backup guard, suggested that the Holy Cross game was an "embarrassment" and that Coach Bruen worked them very hard afterwards.

Colgate continued on with its early success, and led 49-35 at half time. Senior Tucker Neale had 22 points at the half and finished with 35. Neale, who is currently averaging 23.1 points per game, is ranked twenty-first in scoring nationally.

In the second half, Lehigh made a come back, as Colgate exhibited the second half problems they have suffered from all year. They committed ten turnovers in the second half, and for the last ten minutes, the defense was non-existent. Coach Bruen characterized the recent problems the team has had as a "snowballing effect, that seems to be occurring everytime they have a second half lead."

Colgate continued to falter, and with a minute left to play, Rashawne Glenn hit a big three pointer cutting the Colgate lead to three. First-year Adonal Foyle came up with the biggest bucket of his career, putting back an errant shot, and hitting a free throw for a three point play with 55 seconds left, putting the game out of reach for Lehigh.

Foyle is averaging 12.7 rebounds per game, ranking him second nationally. He is averaging an astounding five blocks per game, ranking him fourth in the nation. He is also second on the team in scoring, at 15.8 points per game. Foyle has already broken the Colgate first-year records for most points in a game, most rebounds in a game, most blocks in a game and most blocks in a season. He has also tied the record for most blocks in a game. He also broke the Patriot League record for most rebounds in a game, with a whopping 25 against Texas Southern, which is the best performance by any player nationally this season. He is also only three rebounds away from breaking the record for rebounds in a season by a first-year at Colgate.

Foyle isn't the only Raider setting records. Neale broke the all time Patriot League and Colgate records for career three-pointers with 206 and counting. Neale, arguably the best player ever to put on a Colgate jersey, needs only 34 points to break the all-time scoring record by a Colgate player, held by Mike Ferrara, `81. Neale should break the record either Saturday at Bucknell or home against Cornell Monday night.

In the second game this week, Colgate played Navy in a rematch of last year's Patriot League final, which Navy won 78-76. The Red Raiders were psyched up for the rematch. That intensity was shared by the Cotterell faithful, with a sell-out crowd wanting revenge. Colgate responded to the test with an easy 81-67 victory.

Navy jumped out to an early five point lead, but Colgate answered back with an 8-0 run, which included a monster slam from Foyle off a missed shot. Navy came back with six straight points to take an 8-11 lead with 12:11 to go, and forced Coach Bruen to call a time out. This time out proved pivotal to the team, as Colgate went on a series of mini-runs of 6-0 to make it 15-11, 6-0 to make it 22-14 and12-0 to make it 36-21. Neale hit a baseline three with 38 seconds left, and Colgate took a 39-23 lead into half time.

Neale led the way with 18 half-time points, and Foyle dropped in 11. Even more impressive was the Colgate defense. Led by Neale, Foyle, Tuohey, sophomore Tim Bollin and sophomore Jimmy Maloney, the team took Navy completely out of their offense. Navy's leading halftime scorer was Michael Heary with five points.

In the second half, Colgate continued to play well, as Bollin, Roberts and junior forward Malik Cupid all played big roles. With 5:11 to play, Cupid put the game away with a three pointer to give Colgate a 68-49 lead. Cupid, who has been having a disappointing season, appeared to break out of the funk he has been in of late. He had eight points and six rebounds in an all important 16 minutes. Bollin scored eight points also, and Roberts continued with his hot hand, scoring 13.

Navy went on a run the rest of the way, but it was too little, too late, as Colgate won 81-67.

The key statistic from the game was field goal percentage. Colgate, shot an amazing 52.2 percent from the field compared to Navy at 33.8 percent. Colgate also proved clutch at the line, hitting 13-16 in the games final minutes.

Coach Bruen was very pleased with the team's play, especially praising Cupid and the leadership of Maloney and Tuohey at the point. Bruen and the whole team agreed that revenge played a major factor in the victory.

Notes & News:

*Senior co-captain Chris Nicholas quit the team for personal reasons over break. Junior guard Derek Hyra fractured his hand in practice Tuesday and will miss 3-4 weeks. First-year guard Seth Schaeffer returned to the sideline after missing the last two games with a sprained ankle, but did not play. Tomorrow, Colgate plays at Bucknell, who is undefeated at 4-0 in the Patriot League. A win would put Colgate in a tie for first at 4-1 with the Bison. Game time is 3 p.m.

To all students: Coach Bruen said that the crowd could be louder during games. This is a call for the fans to be the sixth man that teams like Duke, UConn and North Carolina always have. So come on, let's support our team and make some noise on Monday night at home.

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