Senior Gerrale Gates reaches milestone as Holy Cross puts up fight against first-place Colgate
WORCESTER — Entering Wednesday night’s game against Patriot League foe Colgate at the Hart Center, Holy Cross senior forward Gerrale Gates needed just one point to become the 53rd 1,000-point scorer in program history, and less than five minutes in, Gates achieved the milestone.
Fittingly, Gates, a mighty presence inside since arriving at HC three years ago, powered up to snatch his own rebound and put it back to reach the magic number.
Gates finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, and the Crusaders battled the first-place Raiders, but Colgate continued its run of success against HC, and PL opponents, with a 77-71 victory.
Dating back to 2017, the Raiders have won 14 straight against HC. Colgate (13-5, 7-0) extended its winning streak against Patriot League opponents to 22 games.
“They have great experience and they know how to win,” Holy Cross coach Brett Nelson said of the Raiders, who have captured three of the last four PL regular-season and tournament titles. I thought we played with great energy and we really fought. In the second half, we just had some key mistakes. It had nothing to do with effort.”
Nelson pointed to some careless turnovers that led to baskets, a couple of quick, ill-advised shots, and giving up two offensive rebounds off missed free throws.
“Plays like that we have to clean up,” Nelson said, “but we can get better from a game like this.”
HC (6-14, 3-4) won three of its first four PL games, but has since dropped three straight.
“It’s a little adversity,” Gates said, “but we have to put it past us and get on to the next play and focus on what we have to do to win these games down the stretch.”
Wednesday night was Gates’ 61st for Holy Cross after playing his first two seasons at the University of New Orleans.
He earned All-PL honors each of the last two years, and he is once again among the top players in the Patriot League.
Gates leads HC in scoring (17.5 ppg) and rebounds (9.1 rpg).
“(Scoring 1,000 points for Holy Cross) means everything,” Gates said. “Being able to do it with my guys — I’ve had great teammates around me to help me score the ball and help me lead this team. I’m just following the lead of the coaches and trying to be a great teammate.”
Including his time at New Orleans, Gates has scored 1,526 career points.
Nelson said before the season that Gates’ greatest strides have been with his leadership. He is the team’s only senior.
“He’s been great,” freshman guard Will Batchelder said. “He’s given me a ton of confidence since I got here.”
Batchelder scored a game-high 20 points for his fourth 20-point output of the season.
Colgate, which led by one at halftime, was up by as many as nine twice early in the second half. Batchelder’s 3 capped a 7-0 HC spurt and brought the Crusaders back within a point with seven minutes left.
“I think we were feeling confident at that point,” Batchelder said, “to try to make a push to get our first lead of the second half, but we came up a little short.”
Holy Cross trailed by four with just under four minutes left. Colgate senior Keegan Records missed a 3 with the shot clock almost at zero, but senior Ryan Moffatt was alone underneath to corral the miss and make the easy layup. Freshman guard Braeden Smith scored Colgate’s last seven points, five of them from the free throw line.
Colgate’s big men, the 6-foot-10 Records and 6-11 junior Jeff Woodward combined for 30 points, and the Raiders scored 42 points in the paint.
“They have great size and good hands,” Nelson said. “You have to pick your poison a little bit. They’re the best 3-point shooting team in our league, so we tried to mix it up on them. We did a good job on (senior forward) Tucker Richardson (Colgate’s leading scorer, who was 1 of 7 for four points). We just have to keep getting better.”
Juniors Bo Montgomery (14 points) and Joe Octave (13) also scored in double figures for HC.
Colgate led by as many as eight in the first half, but HC got back into it with three straight stops – including two shot-clock violations — at the defensive end, and the long-range shooting of Montgomery and freshman guard Jaden Kirkwood, whose 3-pointer put the Crusaders ahead, 26-23, with just under six minutes left in the first.
“We were there,” Nelson said. “We were beat by a good team. I like direction we’re heading. All of our energy was about winning today.”
—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Gates reaches milestone as Holy Cross puts up fight against Colgate
