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HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Bucknell men's basketball team had three-time defending champion Colgate on the ropes for 40 minutes, but the top-seeded Raiders held off the fifth-seeded Bison, 68-65, in a Patriot League tournament semifinal barnburner on Sunday afternoon.
Bucknell's season ends a few plays short of a berth in the championship game after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll. The Bison came into the game with a four-game winning streak and playing its best basketball of the season, and they jumped on the veteran Raiders early, building a 15-point lead in the first half.
Noah Williamson, who scored the game's first eight points, finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Jack Forrest tallied 16 points in his final collegiate game, and Josh Bascoe had 12 points off the bench. Patriot League Player of the Year Braeden Smith scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half to lead Colgate's comeback, and Jalen Cox finished with 15, including three second-half 3-pointers after the Raiders started the game 0-for-16 from the arc.
"I could not be prouder of the 14 men inside our locker room right now," said first-year Bucknell coach John Griffin III. "It's been quite a journey. Everyone in our program is incredibly disappointed right now. Ironically, that's a good thing, because it means everyone left everything they had on the court today. A couple of bounces didn't go our way, and a couple of offensive rebounds really hurt us, but we will dissect the game another day. Right now I'm just so proud of how the team competed. This group made my job so enjoyable this season."
Colgate (24-9) cut into that 15-point deficit late in the first half and trailed by nine at 32-23 at the break. The Raiders missed their first 16 3-point attempts of the day, but then they hit 5 of 6 to spark their comeback.
The Bison (14-19) led 44-34 after Ruot Bijiek's corner triple, but Cox and Chandler Baker hit from deep in an 8-0 run that brought Colgate within 44-42. Jeff Woodward's free throw tied the game for the first time at 47-all with 10:49 left before Bucknell took the lead right back on Forrest's banked-in three.
It was still tied at 55 when Bascoe hit a corner 3-pointer and slipped behind the defense for a layup, both shots assisted by Williamson, to give the Bison a 60-55 lead. Bucknell forced a miss at the other end, but Woodward picked up the loose ball and stuck it back in. Parker Jones followed with a layup to make it 60-59, and then after the Bison had to force a shot at the end of the timer, Cox was fouled in the open court and split two free throws to tie it again at 60.
The Bison turned it over on their next possession and Cox finished the runout to give the Raiders their first lead of the day with 2:48 to go. Smith's floater gave Colgate its largest lead of four with 2:15 left, but Bucknell refused to go away.
Williamson backed down Keegan Records for a short jump hook while drawing the First Team All-Patriot League center's fifth foul. Williamson made the free throw to cut the margin to one at 64-63 with 1:52 left.
BUCKNELL (14-19, 10-8 PL)
Noah Williamson 6-15 3-7 19; Jack Forrest 5-12 5-6 16; Elvin Edmonds IV 1-9 2-2 5; Ruot Bijiek 2-4 0-0 5; Josh Adoh 0-3 4-4 4; Josh Bascoe 5-9 0-0 12; Ian Motta 1-2 0-0 2; Pip Ajayi 1-1 0-0 2; Quin Berger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 14-19 65.
COLGATE (24-9, 16-2 PL)
Braeden Smith 6-16 8-9 21; Jalen Cox 5-11 2-4 15; Keegan Records 3-4 2-2 8; Ryan Moffatt 1-4 0-0 2; Brady Cummins 0-5 0-0 0; Jeff Woodward 3-4 3-8 9; Chandler Baker 3-5 0-0 7; Sam Thomson 1-1 2-5 4; Parker Jones 1-3 0-0 2; Nicolas Louis-Jacques 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 17-28 68.
Halftime: Bucknell 32-23. 3-point goals: Bucknell 9-29 (Williamson 4-9, Bascoe 2-4, Bijiek 1-3, Edmonds IV 1-5, Forrest 1-5, Motta 0-1, Adoh 0-2), Colgate 5-25 (Cox 3-7, Baker 1-1, Smith 1-6, Records 0-1, Jones 0-2, Moffatt 0-2, Cummins 0-4). Fouled out: Bucknell-Williamson; Colgate-Records. Rebounds: Bucknell 39 (Williamson 8), Colgate 35 (Smith 8). Assists: Bucknell 10 (Edmonds IV), Colgate 11 (Cox 4). Technical fouls: Bucknell-none; Colgate-none. Total fouls: Bucknell 20, Colgate 17. A: 1,106.