To be the king you have to beat the king.
For the last four seasons, Colgate has been the king of the Patriot League.
The American Eagles ended Colgate’s streak today with a 70-62 in the Patriot League semifinals.
Elijah Stephens led the Eagles with 16 points.
Jalen Cox and Jeff Woodward scored 16 points each.
Colgate scored the first seven points of the game. Colgate would push the lead to 12-4. Colgate is 5-7 from the field.
AU on a 9-0 run. Eagles up 13-12.
Colgate on an 8-0 run. Now up 22-14.
Greg Jones hits back-to-back threes to cut Colgate’s lead to 24-22.
Elijah Stephens layup tied the game at 26 with 43 seconds left in the first half.
Parker Jones’ three-pointer with .1 seconds left in the half gave Colgate a 29-26 lead at halftime.
AU scores the first five points including an Elijah Stephens three-pointer of the second half and takes the lead 31-29.
After Colgate tied it at 31 but another Stephens three-pointer gave AU a 34-31 lead.
Eagles 14-3 run gives them a 48-38 lead.
After Jeff Woodward’s layup cut it to eight, the Raiders never got closer.
AU’s Offense Slowly Rises
For the second game in a row, American allowed it’s opponent to get off to a fast start. First it was Lafayette and today it was Colgate. The Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Eagles offense woke up.
But when it did, Colgate had little to no answer.
American shot 44% in the first half but had started showing signs of success of that end of the floor.
In the second half, the avalanche came. The Eagles shot 55.2% in the second half.
Paint Domination
This was supposed to be where Colgate’s Jeff Woodward was supposed to be the difference. He wasn’t. In the first half, he got in foul trouble and that lessened his impact on the game even though the numbers (16 points 12 rebounds) try to tell a different story.
American was able to score in the paint off the dribble and via pass. The Eagles ended up outscoring Colgate 38-30 in that category.
Home Court Advantage
Because Navy upset Bucknell, 83-77 which means American will host the Patriot League tournament finals.
Navy swept the Eagles this season.
