Colgate Edges Men's Basketball in OT, 80-79

Saturday, January 24

Hamilton, NY

2 PM

Boston University

8-13,3-5Patriot

Colgate

12-9,6-2Patriot

OT 1

Boston U.

Colgate

January 24, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Coach Jones Postgame

HAMILTON, N.Y. – Competing in its third overtime in four games, the Boston University men's basketball team came up just short at Colgate, 80-79, Saturday afternoon.

The Raiders (12-9, 6-2 PL) prevailed in a contest that featured 11 lead changes and seven ties over the final 23 minutes of action with Jalen Cox scoring the final go-ahead bucket off a floater at 9.1 seconds against the Terriers (8-13, 3-5 PL). Colgate then blocked freshman Chance Gladden's layup attempt out of bounds and watched helplessly as freshman Sam Hughes' jumper just missed the mark.

Gladden tallied a game-high 25 points with three assists and two steals, while junior Michael McNair totaled 20 points, as the duo shot a combined 15-for-18 (.833) at the charity stripe. Sophomore Ben Defty earned 17 points alongside a team-high six rebounds before fouling out at 1:12 in overtime. With only eight Terriers dressed, BU shot 50.9 percent from the field with a 20-7 advantage in made free throws, but the Raiders, who finished at 50.0 FG%, nearly doubled the Terriers in made 3-pointers, 9-5.

After missing a contested go-ahead jumper in the final seconds of regulation, Cox ended the matchup at 23 points with five assists and two steals. Sam Wright added 22 points and six rebounds, while Andrew Alekseyenko posted 23 points and seven rebounds, including four on the offensive end that helped the Raiders outscore BU in second-chance opportunities, 12-3. Kyle Carlesimo earned 13 points, three steals and the game-saving block off the bench.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After Defty won the tip, Abdullah started off the contest with a 3-pointer to spark a 16-6 run capped by Defty's putback and bonus free throw at 11:43.
Facing a 21-11 deficit with 8:20 left, Wright scored from behind the arc to help the Raiders pull out a 14-3 run finished by Alekseyenko's layup at 2:54 for their first lead.
McNair followed with three free throws over the next 30 seconds and freshman Donte Tisinger Jr. added a jumper to help BU enter the locker room ahead, 30-27.
Tisinger netted another bucket to extend BU's lead to 40-35 with 15:12 before the teams began a see-saw battle.
After Wright's 3-pointer put Colgate back ahead, 49-47, at 10:28, Gladden scored four straight points on a layup plus two free throws over the next two minutes.
McNair added two more free throws with 3:58 left in regulation for a 62-57 lead, but the Raiders scored six straight over the next 60 seconds, helped by Cox's two layups.
Defty followed Gladden's layup at 1:32 and steal on Colgate's next possession with two free throws for 66-63 lead.
Cox tied the game at 45 seconds on a 3-point play and helped defend against Abdullah's layup attempt with 24 seconds remaining but missed a contested jumper to send the game to overtime.
BU scored the first five points off Hughes' 3-pointer and McNair's layup and grabbed a 75-71 lead on Defty's layup with 2:20 remaining.
Cox responded with two buckets a bonus free throw to push Colgate ahead, 76-75, at 1:12.
On BU's next two possessions, Gladden scored at the hoop, but Wright responded with a putback to Gladden's first layup and Cox hit the final field goal of the game to earn the win.

GAME NOTES

Gladden reached at least 20 points for the fifth time this season, while McNair accomplished the feat for the eighth time.
BU had at least nine steals for the third time this season after earning 10 at Northeastern and nine against Harvard.
The Terriers dropped to 2-3 on the season in overtime contests, as they and Colgate needed extra time to decide a victor in their second consecutive meeting following last February's 2OT game won by BU at Case Gym.
BU is now 7-5 when shooting 50+ FG% after finishing 6-2 a year prior.

UP NEXT

BU will return home to host PL preseason favorite Navy on Wednesday (Jan. 28) at 7 p.m.
The Midshipmen earned an 82-77 home win on Dec. 31 with the help of a 30-12 advantage in free throw attempts.
PL preseason Player of the Year Austin Benigni led Navy with 27 points and eight assists, while Aidan Kehoe had 15 points and 15 rebounds. Gladden led BU with 26 points, while Defty and McNair combined for 25.
Navy eliminated 2025 PL quarterfinal host BU, 86-78, after the Terriers won the 2024 quarterfinal at Case Gym, 70-61.