The Army Black Knights and the Colgate Raiders meet Sunday in Patriot League Tournament college basketball action from Cotterell Court. Army is fresh off a close tournament win over Boston U on Thursday. As for Colgate, they took out Loyola MD in their first tournament game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Army Black Knights
Army managed a 13-11 run over their first 24 games this year. The Black Knights finished off the regular season on a sketchy 3-4 run, falling to Bucknell, Navy, Colgate and Boston U with wins over Loyola MD, Lafayette and Holy Cross otherwise.
In the Patriot League Tournament game on Thursday versus Boston U, Army was up 36-32 at the break but needed a 12-10 in overtime to take the eventual 71-69 victory. Jalen Rucker led the team with his 32 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Colgate Raiders
Over on the Colgate side, they were 17-7 over their first 24 games this season. The Raiders followed up with a loss to American, then wins over Lehigh, Bucknell, Army, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Navy in the next six outings.
Matched up against Loyola MD on Thursday, Colgate stormed out to a 51-31 halftime lead. The Raiders cruised on another 41 points from there and won it 92-73. Braeden Smith was tops on the team on 19 points with six rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stay with Colgate in this one. The line’s probably too thick to mess with, though. The Raiders didn’t have much trouble at all versus Loyola in their last outing, and six different players finished in double-digit points. Colgate is on a seven-game win streak right now, scoring 73 or more points in six of those matchups. The Raiders won both meetings between these teams this year: 77-75 on January 9 at Christl Arena and 93-86 on February 15 at Cotterell Court. Both games were pretty competitive and this one should be no different. If Colgate plays to their capabilities however, I think they’ll be fine.