Coach Matt Langel has built Colgate men’s basketball into a Patriot League powerhouse during his 13 years leading the program.
The Raiders are the three-time defending conference champions, have won the regular season crown in four of the last five seasons and have traditionally had success against Navy.
For a while on Saturday, it appeared Navy was headed for a rare victory over Colgate. The Midshipmen played an impressive brand of basketball in the first half, shooting the lights out on the offensive end and disrupting the Raiders defensively,
The Mids led by double digits for most of the first half, but coaches say the last five minutes of the first half and first five minutes of the second half are among the most important during a basketball game. That’s exactly when the Raiders made their move.
Sophomore point guard Braeden Smith had a superb all-around game with 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists as Colgate rallied to defeat Navy, 80-72, before an announced crowd of 1,457 at Alumni Hall.
The win was Colgate’s 10th straight over Navy and 13th in the past 14 meetings.
Fifth-year forward Ryan Moffatt went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in scoring 21 points for Colgate (8-7, 2-0). Keegan Records had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots for the Raiders.
“I thought we played really well for the first 16 minutes,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “The game was lost in the last four of the first half and the first four of the second half. Those eight minutes are the game.”
Forward Parker Jones and guard Brady Cummins came off the bench to score eight points apiece for Colgate, which shot a sizzling 64% in the second half.
“Defensively in the second half, we weren’t any good. We didn’t guard and gave them too many points,” DeChellis said. “You tell me we’re going to score 72 points and I’m telling you we’re going to win if we play defense the way we normally do.”
Navy (5-8, 1-1) was without starting wing guard Austin Inge, who was wearing a walking boot because of an ankle injury. Inge is the third member of the rotation to go down in recent weeks, joining wing guard Jinsoo Kim (knee) and backup point guard Carnegie Johnson (broken hand).
Junior Mac MacDonald started in place of Inge and scored a team-high 15 points for Navy, which was outscored 49-34 in the second half. Sophomore forward Donovan Draper posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and also swiped three steals.
Sophomore point guard Austin Benigni totaled 14 points and eight assists for the Mids, who led by as much as 15 in the first half. Junior guard Lysander Rehnstrom scored 14 on the strength of four 3-pointers.
MacDonald scored 13 of his points in the first half, shooting 5-for-7 as Navy, who shot 50% from the field in the half, took a 38-31 lead into the break.
Draper made a pair of 3-pointers to spark a 13-0 run that gave Navy a 30-15 lead. The Midshipmen still led by 12 after MacDonald made his third trey of the half, but the Raiders used a 7-0 run to get back within five.
“We’ve made an emphasis in every game that you have to finish the first half,” DeChellis said. “We were up big then we didn’t finish the first half well at all and they got within striking distance.”
Smith made a 3-pointer then followed with a breakaway layup off a turnover as Colgate opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 41-40 lead.
The Mids briefly regained the lead on a baseline jumper by freshman point guard Cam Cole, but the Raiders kept the pressure on with Moffat making a couple 3-pointers during a subsequent 14-4 run that gave the visitors a 55-46 advantage.
“Give them credit. They came out of the locker room and punched us in the mouth and it took us a while to respond,” DeChellis said. “We were trying to run uphill the whole second half.”
MacDonald and Draper went cold after halftime. MacDonald only managed two points on 1-for-7 shooting, while Draper was limited to four points and four rebounds.
Navy held a slight rebounding edge at halftime, but Colgate wound up with a 34-27 advantage on the boards. The Raiders controlled the boards in the second half despite playing without 6-foot-11 starting center Jeff Woodward, who got poked in the eye at some point in the first half.
“We lost the rebounding war and the defensive battle. That’s the game,” DeChellis said.
DeChellis pointed out that Inge is Navy’s best on-ball defender and would have guarded Smith, who repeatedly drove into the lane to create for himself or others in equaling a career-high for points.
“Smith played with a good head on his shoulders today and made a lot of good decisions, made a lot of shots and made a lot of plays,” Langel said of the 2022-23 Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
