Clayton Graham came off the bench to help Colgate rally for a 59-46 win over Navy Sunday. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
By Kat Castner
(Hamilton, NY – Feb. 24, 2013) On a day that celebrated five seniors and Alzheimer’s awareness, it was junior Clayton Graham, who notched a career-high 10 points and eight rebounds that helped lift the Colgate men’s basketball team to a 59-46 win over the Navy Midshipmen Sunday afternoon.
“I knew I had to step up and have a big game,” Graham said. “I wanted to get the win for our seniors. It was kind of ironic that I had my best game on their senior day, but it was a great game for everyone.
“We turned up the pressure coming out in the second half. We decided that we weren’t going to sit back and let them dictate the game. We had to assert ourselves and that’s what we did, the results proved it.”
Colgate (11-18, 5-7 PL) acknowledged five senior players prior to the game but it was the junior class who sparked the Raiders off the bench. Graham went 2-for-2 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the line to lead Colgate with eight points at the half. He scored his only other attempt at the basket in the second half, recording his first ever double digit scoring game. Graham also pulled down eight boards, which gave him another career-high marker in the contest.
“I thought Clay really worked hard for good position and our guys found him when he was available down low,” head coach Matt Langel said. “He got himself a couple offensive put-backs, he was able to get himself to the free throw line and stepped up and made those. I’m really happy with his performance.”
Fellow classmate Pat Moore led the Raiders with 13 points and went 3-for-5 from downtown.Mitch Rolls and Murphy Burnatowski both tallied eight points while sophomore Luke Roh posted another big game on the boards, pulling down 12 rebounds to lead all players. He also handed out a game-high six assists, one shy of his career-high.
The Raiders shot 39.6 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from behind the arc, hitting five of their 15 attempts, all coming in the second half. Colgate outscored the Mids by 18 in the second half (37-19) to earn its fifth Patriot League win this season. The Raiders also outrebounded the Mids 46-28, including 17 offensive boards. Colgate scored 26 of its 59 points from in the paint and held the advantage on fast break points, 11-4.
“I think our energy and discipline on defense, especially with our guards picking up Tilman (Dunbar) a little bit further up the court, kind of got everyone a little more aggressive and energetic,” Langel said. “When that happens, guys typically end up making harder cuts, moving the ball a little bit quicker and getting more open looks in which we were able to knock them down.”
Navy (8-20, 2-10 PL) saw rookie Tilman Dunbar score a team-high 13 points. Adding 10 points was Worth Smith, who was 4-of-7 from the floor. Will Kelly led the Mids on the boards with seven rebounds.
After shooting 42.3 percent from the floor in the first, Navy fell into a slump in the second only hitting six of their 24 attempts. They ended the game shooting 34 percent from the floor and 20 percent from downtown.
The Mids took the early lead after a 9-0 run to start the game. Graham finally ended the Raiders drought with two makes from the charity stripe at the 15:00 minute mark, getting Colgate on the board.
The forward then proceeded to score the next six points for the Raiders, off two layups and two free throws to cut the Mids lead down to seven at 15-8. Damon Sherman-Newsome finally got another Colgate player on the scoreboard, when he drove to the basket for the layup, posting back-to-back baskets for the Raiders.
Navy’s Kevin Alter would hit the games first 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining in the half, extending their lead to 27-20. However, the Raiders were able to grab two points back, when Moore answered on the other end with a layup in the paint. As the buzzer sounded the Mids headed into the break with a five-point advantage on the scoreboard, 27-22.
The Raiders came out on fire in the second half hitting back-to-back three pointers to take their first lead of the game at 28-27. Burnatowski added another layup to extend the Colgate lead to three before the Mids were able to find the basket on a Kelly dunk, 17:44 into the half.
Colgate would continue their 8-2 run thereafter scoring the next 12 points. Moore accounted for eight of those during that stretch. A made free throw from Kelly ended the Raiders run, cutting their lead to 12 at 42-30 with 9:15 left to play.
Chad Johnson drained a 3-pointer two minutes later to lift the Raiders to their largest lead of the game at 15 (47-32). However, the Mids would respond on the other end of the court with a 3-pointer of their own by Smith.
Roh got the deficit back up to 15 (50-35) after he converted on a three-point play. He was able to knock the ball away from Thurgood Wynn and drive to the basket, making the layup and getting fouled along the way.
The Mids did not go away, however, as they rallied with under five minutes to play going on a 9-2 run. After a Dunbar steal and easy layup the lead was cut to eight at 52-44 with 1:35 remaining in the game.
Colgate finished the game making five of its last seven points from the charity stripe, sealing the win for its five seniors.
“Senior day is always a difficult day, to be honest, because you are honoring guys who have meant a lot to your program, to their teammates, to the university, but you’re still trying to play the game and prepare to win just like any other day,” Langel said. “I really appreciate our five seniors. I know it’s not easy for a guy to have to split their tenure up with two different coaches. They have really worked hard, they have paid attention and I’m really proud of all of them”
The Raiders close out their last home regular season game on Wednesday when they welcome Lafayette to Cotterell Court at 7 p.m.
“Lafayette has beaten up everyone but Army in our league,” Langel added. “And if my memory serves me correctly we did not fair well when we were down in Easton (Pa.). So hopefully we will prepare properly over the next couple days. We have a chip on our shoulder, I’m sure they have their sights set on a first place finish in the Patriot League, so we’ll have our hands full. We really want to play well here down the stretch.”