Raiders shock Cincinnati

Tucker Richardson’s free throw with 2.1 seconds remaining capped a furious rally in the closing seconds and Colgate stunned Cincinnati 67-66 Saturday night.

“Our guys are excited. They had it as one of their marks this year that they wanted to win one of these big games. Clemson, we felt like we had plenty of chances, but did not come through when we needed to,” Colgate head coach Matt Langel said. “Auburn and Syracuse did not go well either so our guys are feeling like their hard work is paying off and this was a big stepping stone to get this win.”

After Will Rayman put back his own miss with 8.8 seconds left to tie the score at 66-all, Cincinnati’s Jarron Cumberland took the inbounds pass and slowly began dribbling up court. Then, at the urging of his teammates and fans, Cumberland suddenly hurried his dribble and let loose with a 60-foot heave despite the clock showing more than four seconds remaining.

The shot slammed off the backboard and into the waiting arms of Richardson, who was fouled some 75 feet from the basket.

Richardson calmly stepped to the line for a 1-and-1 and swished the game-winner. He then intentionally missed the second shot and the clock struck zeroes.

“The last few seconds went by in a flash for me. Will [Rayman] hit a crazy layup to tie it up and then [Jarron] Cumberland took that shot so I just flew in for the rebound,” Richardson said. “When I stepped up to the line it was so loud that I could not even think, which helped me on my shot. The rest is history and this game means so much for our team and program. I couldn’t be more excited.”

Rapolas Ivanauskas led the charge for the Raiders, scoring 19 of his game-high 21 points after halftime. He was 9-of-11 from the floor in the second half as Colgate rallied froma 32-25 halftime deficit.

“I just let the game come to me and did what Coach told me to do. I felt relaxed and tried to be positive for the team,” the Raider big man said. “This is the most important win for us to date because conference play is right around the corner.”

Nelly Cummings scored 10 of his 14 in the second half, while Richardson finished with 11. Colgate made five of its last six shot attempts fromthe field and scored on its last seven possessions.

In a back-and-forth game from the start, Jordan Burns got the Raiders going early with a triple on their first possession. Rayman then connected from long range and scored the next five points to get Colgate out front early 8-5.

Colgate (8-4) turned to its defense early, forcing six turnovers

in the first eight minutes to keep the Bearcats at bay. Jack Ferguson knocked down a pair of treys as part of a 10-0 run that built the Raiders’ lead to 22-16.

Cincinnati (6-4) shot back with a 16-3 scoring spurt to turn a six-point deficit into a seven-point lead at the intermission. Burns swished a 3-pointer fromthe corner to cut the deficit to 27-25, but the Bearcats scored the final five points to take a 3225 lead at the break.

Cummings ignited Colgate in the second half with a baseline jumper. Ivanauskas and Richardson accounted for the next 10 Raider points, and an inside layup for Ivanauskas capped a 10-2 spurt that pulled the Raiders in front 37-36.

Cincinnati fought back and a pair of dunks by Keith Williams electrified the crowd with the home team in front 46-39. Colgate stayed composed and kept hanging around, with a driving layup from Cummings closing the gap to 5755 with just over three minutes left.

The Bearcats grew their lead back to five 64-59 with 1:27 left, but that was when Colgate mounted its late comeback. Colgate connected on five of its last six shots and a second-chance layup from Raymancappeda 7-2runthat tied the game at 66-66 with 8.8 seconds showing.

An errant half-court shot from Cumberland set the stage for Richardson, who sank the last-second free throw to seal the victory for the Raiders.