BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (COLGATE ATHLETICS) –

Tucker Richardson scored 22 points and Colgate shot over 50 percent from the field in a wire-to-wire 81-62 win over Binghamton Wednesday night at the Events Center.

Richardson’s game-high 22 points came on 9-of-12 from the field and 4-of-5 from behind the arc. He added four steals, three rebounds, and three assists with no turnovers. Keegan Records (16) and Braeden Smith (12) also reached double-figure scoring in the wire-to-wire victory. Colgate’s 54.5 percent clip from the field marked its third-best shooting game of the season.

Records scored the first four points and then Richardson blitzed the Bearcats with 13 consecutive points. He swished three triples, banked in a layup, and sank two free throws to stretch Colgate’s early lead to 17-5 six minutes into the contest.

Binghamton went scoreless for nearly three minutes while Colgate’s defense stood tall. Smith and Ryan Moffatt each added early 3-pointers before a traditional three-point play from Records put the Raiders in front 28-13 midway through the opening stanza.

Smith made another three from the top of the key to extend the Raiders’ lead to 36-16. The Bearcats used a 7-2 spurt to close within 41-25 but Oliver Lynch-Daniels swished Colgate’s eighth 3-pointer of the stanza to end the drought.

The Raiders shot 62 percent from the field and 67 percent from behind the arc to build a 48-26 lead at the intermission. Their 48 points were the most in the first half of a game this season.

Binghamton was 0-for-5 from the perimeter in the first half but knocked down two of their first four in the second half. John McGriff’s three in transition sparked a 9-4 surge for the Bearcats, who cut it to a 17-point deficit 56-42 eight minutes into the second term.

Woodward, who made a career-high seven free throws, connected on some big shots inside down the stretch. The Bearcats trimmed the margin to 15 (66-51) but were never closer than that.

Strong minutes from Sam Thomson, Brady Cummins, and Nicolas Louis-Jacques late in the game kept the lead in double-digits and helped the Raiders coast to the finish line, 81-62.

Colgate (6-5) hosts Vermont, a No. 13 seed in last year’s NCAA tournament, on Saturday at noon for the first game of a basketball doubleheader at Cotterell Court.