Raiders Lauded For Second-Place Finish in Patriot League
Head Coach Matt Langel was voted by his peers as the 2018 Patriot League Coach of the Year, while four Raiders collected All-Patriot League honors, the league announced Monday afternoon.
Sophomore Will Rayman earned second-team All-League honors, seniors Sean O’Brien and Jordan Swopshire garnered third-team accolades, while first-year Jordan Burns was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie team.
Langel guided a Colgate team that was picked to finish fifth in the Patriot League to a second-place finish and No. 2 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The second-place result is Colgate’s best since the 2014-15 squad also finished second, and tied for the highest finish since the 1995-96 team won the regular-season title. The Raiders tied all-time program records with 17 regular-season (17-12) wins and 12 Patriot League (12-6) wins as Colgate wrapped up home-court advantage through the semifinal round. The Raiders are one win away from tying the program record for wins in a season (18).
Colgate finished the regular season 11-3 at Cotterell Court under Langel’s guidance, tying a Cotterell Court record for wins in a season. It marks the most home wins in 23 years.
The 2017-18 team already has secured the program’s first overall winning record in 10 years. Colgate cannot fall down to the .500 mark, and the worst the Raiders can finish is 17-13. The last Colgate team to finish above .500 overall was the 2007-08 squad that went 18-14.
Langel has led the Raiders to a 41-31 mark against Patriot League competition over the last four years.
Langel becomes just the second Colgate coach to earn men’s basketball Patriot League Coach of the Year honors and the first since 1996. Jack Bruen collected Coach of the Year nods in both 1992 and 1996.
Rayman wrapped up his stellar sophomore campaign with team-best marks of 14.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game to earn second team All-Patriot League honors. The New York City native’s scoring average was good for 10th among all players in the Patriot League. The sophomore also led the Raiders with 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per Patriot League contest.
Rayman tallied a team-best 22 double-figure scoring efforts this season, including five 20-plus point performances and three double-doubles. He scored a season-best 29 points in a key win over Army on Feb. 21. Rayman finished the regular season with strong marks of 45.6 FG%, 41.5 3FG% and 79.4 FT%. He has tallied 882 career points (14.5 ppg) thus far as a Raider.
Rayman was the 2017 Patriot League Rookie of the Year a season ago but earns his first All-Patriot League team selection with his second team nod.
O’Brien collects the first All-Patriot League honor of his career after finishing the regular season with 11.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.63 leads the Patriot League and ranks fourth in all of Division I.
A two-time team captain, O’Brien has been Colgate’s go-to leader over the last two seasons. He scored the 1,000th point of his career Saturday on Senior Day in Colgate’s win over Holy Cross.
O’Brien registered 17 double-digit scoring games and led Colgate in assists in 14 contests. He chipped in 10.9 points per Patriot League contest and scored a season-best 21 points in a win over NJIT on Dec. 12. The Lafayette Hill, Pa., native ranks in the top 10 of a number of Colgate career records, including three-point shooting percentage, three-pointers made and career assists.
Swopshire also collects the first All-League honor of his career. The O’Fallon, Mo., native finished the season second on the team with 12.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He drained a team-best 71 three-pointers this season, and his 200 career made three-pointers rank fourth all-time in the Colgate record books.
Swopshire scored the 1,000th point of his career on Feb. 14 against Lehigh and the 1,000th point in a Colgate uniform in Colgate’s Senior Day win over Holy Cross.
Swopshire tallied 21 double-digit efforts this season, including two 20-plus point efforts. His 12.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per Patriot League contest helped the Raiders to a second-place finish in the league standings. The senior scored a season-best 22 points in the Patriot League opener against Holy Cross.
Burns was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team after his standout freshman campaign in which he averaged 11.8 points and 3.2 assists per game. The San Antonio, Texas, native collected three Patriot League Rookie of the Week awards (Jan. 29, Jan. 22, Nov. 20) during the season and his 11.8 points per game ranks third among league freshmen.
Burns registered 17 double-digit scoring efforts and three 20-plus point performances. He led Colgate in scoring in six games and led the Raiders in assists in 13 contests. He scored a career-high 27 points in a road win at American on Jan. 27 and finished Patriot League play with 11.9 points per league game.
Burns is the third Raider in the last three years to be named to the All-Rookie Team. He continues the strong stretch started by Malcolm Regisford (2016) and Will Rayman (2017).
Colgate’s four selections to the All-Patriot League teams mark a program record.
The second-seeded Raiders open the Patriot League Tournament at home in the quarterfinal round Thursday. Colgate hosts the winner of Tuesday’s No. 7 Lafayette/No. 10 American first-round game. Tipoff from Cotterell Court is slated for 7 p.m.
The winner advances to Sunday’s Semifinals, which also takes place at Cotterell Court if Colgate is victorious Thursday.
2017-18 Men’s Basketball All-Patriot League Team and Major Awards
Player of the Year: Zach Thomas, Bucknell (Sr., C)
Defensive Player of the Year: Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr., F)
Rookie of the Year: Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr., G)
Coach of the Year: Matt Langel, Colgate
First-Team All-Patriot League
Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr., C)
Zach Thomas, Bucknell (Sr, F)
Stephen Brown, Bucknell (Sr., G)
Andre Walker, Loyola Maryland (Sr., G)
Shawn Anderson, Navy (Sr., G)
Second-Team All-Patriot League
Sa’eed Nelson, American (So., G)
Will Rayman, Colgate (So., F)
Matt Klinewski, Lafayette (Sr., F)
Kahron Ross, Lehigh, Sr., G)
Lance Tejada, Lehigh (Jr., G)
Third-Team All-Patriot League
Max Mahoney, Boston University (So., F)
Sean O’Brien, Colgate (Sr., G)
Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr., F)
Jordan Swopshire, Colgate (Sr., F)
Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr., G)
All-Defensive Team
Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr, C)
Stephen Brown, Bucknell (Sr., G),
Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr., F)
Andrew Kostecka, Loyola Maryland (So., G)
Bryce Dulin, Navy (Sr., G)
All-Rookie Team
Sam Iorio, American (Fr., F)
Walter Whyte, Boston University (Fr., F)
Jordan Burns, Colgate (Fr., G)
Austin Butler, Holy Cross (Fr., G)
Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr., G)