Colgate To Host Alzheimer’s Awareness Game Saturday
All Proceeds to Benefit Alzheimer’s Association
The Colgate men’s basketball team is set to host its annual Alzheimer’s Awareness game Saturday afternoon when the Raiders welcome Holy Cross. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. from Cotterell Court.
The game will serve as Colgate’s regular-season finale with major postseason seeding implications on the line. A win secures the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. Colgate has already secured a top three seed as the Raiders can finish no lower than a tie for second place in the Patriot League standings.
Free t-shirts, free Gilligan’s ice cream and raffle prizes will be on hand Saturday at Cotterell Court, with a suggested donation of $1. All proceeds will benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. The Raiders will be wearing purple in support of creating awareness for Alzheimer’s.
Formed in 1980, the Alzheimer’s Association advances research to end Alzheimer’s and dementia while enhancing care for those living with the disease. The cause is close to the hearts of the team and the Hamilton community.
Saturday’s 2 p.m. game will also be Senior Day. The program’s five seniors (Sean O’Brien, Tom Rivard, Jordan Robertson, Jordan Swopshire and Dylan Whitbread) will be honored prior to tipoff.
What’s On The Line Saturday
There’s a lot riding on Saturday’s contests around the Patriot League, including the Colgate vs. Holy Cross matchup. If the Raiders win, Colgate secures the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and earns home court advantage for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. The Raiders would finish the season at 12-6 in Patriot League play and tie a program record with 12 league wins. The 2014-15 team also finished 12-6 in league action.
Bucknell (15-2) has already clinched the regular-season championship and top seed in the upcoming tournament. Navy and Lehigh trail Colgate (11-6) by one game in the standings at 10-7. If Colgate loses Saturday’s game to Holy Cross, the Raiders would still be the No. 2 seed if Lehigh loses to Lafayette. If Colgate, Navy and Lehigh all finish with the same record, the Raiders would come out on top of a three-way tiebreak. That tiebreaker would be each team’s record against the teams they are tied with. Therefore, Colgate is 3-1 against Navy and Lehigh, Navy is 2-2 against Colgate and Lehigh, and Lehigh is 1-3 against Colgate and Navy. Colgate cannot drop lower than the No. 3 seed.
Colgate is 10-3 at Cotterell Court this season. If the Raiders beat Holy Cross Saturday, Colgate moves to 11-3 at home, marking the most home wins in 23 years. The last team to capture 11 home wins was the 1994-95 squad that went 11-1 at Cotterell Court. The program record for home wins is 13 (1926-27).
At 16-12 overall, the Raiders are guaranteed to finish the 2017-18 year with their first overall winning record in 10 years. Colgate cannot fall down to the .500 mark, and the worst the Raiders could finish is 16-14. It marks the first overall winning season in head coach Matt Langel’s tenure and the first since the 2007-08 team went 18-14. Colgate also has the chance to tie or break the program record for wins in a season, which currently stands at 18.