WORCESTER, Mass. – Senior forward Gerrale Gates totaled 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, but the Holy Cross men's basketball team was defeated by Colgate 78-71 at the Hart Center at the Luth Athletic Complex. The Crusaders fall to 9-20 overall and 7-10 in the Patriot League, while the Raiders improve to 19-11 on the year and 15-2 in the conference.

Colgate made 55.6 percent of its field goal attempts and 42.9 percent of its three-pointers on the night, while holding a 26-8 advantage in free throw attempts. Holy Cross was able to connect on 45.3 percent of its shots from the floor and 35.0 of its attempts from three-point range, while committing just seven turnovers.

The Raiders opened the game by jumping out to a quick 9-2 lead after the first 2:37 of action. The Crusaders scored the next four points to close the gap and would go on to tie the game at 17-17 on a three-pointer by freshman guard Kyrell Luc. Colgate later led 29-27 with seven minutes left in the half, before using a 14-2 run to take a 14-point halftime lead (43-29). 

The Raiders increased their lead to 19 points early in the second half and were still up by 14 (60-46) with 11 minutes to play. Holy Cross then used a 13-2 spurt, including seven points from Gates, to make it a three-point game (62-59) with seven minutes remaining. But Colgate responded by scoring nine of the next 13 points to go back up by eight (71-63), and the Crusaders would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Luc finish the game with 12 points, four assists and two rebounds, while sophomore guard Nolan Dorsey added nine points and seven boards. Keegan Records led the Raiders with 25 points and 14 rebounds.

Holy Cross will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 26, when it plays host to Army West Point in its regular season finale at 2:00 p.m.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
• Gates now has 12 double-doubles on the year, the most by a Crusader since Andrew Keister posted 12 double-doubles during the 2009-2010 season.
• Dorsey set a new career-high with his seven rebounds.
• Gates tied his career-best by handing out five assists.