COLGATE OPENS PATRIOT LEAGUE SEASON HOSTING LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

HAMILTON, N.Y. – For the Colgate University basketball team, and the seven other members of the Patriot League, the real season gets underway Saturday with the start of league play.

The Raiders (5-8) will open their Patriot League schedule playing host to Lafayette College (6-6) at 3:15 p.m. at Cotterell Court on Saturday afternoon.  Colgate is returning home from a six-day, three-game road trip that covered 3,332 miles.

Colgate comes into league play with a little momentum after defeating Dartmouth, 64-54, Tuesday night for its first road win of the campaign.

One negative for the Raiders is the probable loss of star guard Mark Linebaugh for the third straight game with a foot injury.  Linebaugh is averaging 9.2 points per game and 4.0 rebounds.  He was the 2001 Patriot League Rookie of the Year.

This is a match up between the same two clubs that faced each other in last year’s quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.  After losing to Colgate twice during the regular season, Lafayette eliminated the Raiders with a 74-71 victory. 

Overall, these two schools are playing for the 67^th time with Colgate holding a slim lead, 36-30.  The Raiders have won six of the last 10 meetings including the last two meetings at Cotterell Court.  Last season, Colgate took an 85-73 win on its home floor, and has swept the last four regular season games from the Leopards.

On Tuesday night against Dartmouth, junior Howard Blue tallied 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, all in the second half, and Dave Hardy added nine points and a season-high seven assists for the Colgate victory.  Tim Sullivan and Andrew Zidar added nine points apiece.

Blue continues to lead Colgate in scoring with 13.5 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per outing.  He is sixth in the Patriot League in scoring and fifth in rebounding through Wednesday’s games.

Lafayette also picked up a victory Tuesday night with a 97-42 romp over Centenary with six players reaching double figures for the Leopards.  Andrei Capusan led the way with 17 points and nine rebounds.  The Leopards opened their season with five straight losses before stringing together five straight wins including an impressive 54-52 road win over Massachusetts.

Justin DeBerry is Lafayette’s top scorer with 15.4 points per game, while Winston Davis is averaging 14.3 and Rob Dill 10.4.