The men’s basketball team fell to Colgate (4-2) Monday night, 87-75, in Hamilton, N.Y. Bulldog captain Ime Archibong ’03 led all scorers with 23 points, but it was not enough to carry Yale (4-4) to victory, as the Elis suffered only their second loss in their last six games.

The Elis dug themselves an early hole — they were down by as many as 14 points in the first half — but narrowed the deficit to 3, 44-41, by halftime. The Red Raiders made 56 percent of their field goals in the game’s first 20 minutes (18 for 32), including a red-hot five of nine from 3-point territory. Yale held its own by making 14 of 29 field goals, including five of 10 from downtown.

In the second half, Colgate cooled off, but the Elis still could not overcome Colgate’s 50 percent shooting on the night. In Yale’s four losses this season, opponents have shot at least 49 percent. In Yale’s four wins, opponents have not been able to muster more than 43 percent shooting accuracy.

Colgate beat Yale with a balanced attack, having five players score in double figures, led by forward Pat Campolieta’s second double-double of the season — 22 points and 10 rebounds. Howard Blue came off the bench to pour in 19 points, and Mark Linebaugh added 15 for the Red Raiders, who are off to their best start since the 1992-93 season.

Yale, which had six players reach double figures against Army Saturday, had only three reach that mark last night. T. J. McHugh ’03 had a solid game in the low post for Yale, going for 14 points and nine rebounds. Edwin Draughan ’05 had 11 points but made only four of 16 shots. Coming into the game, Draughan had hit only five of his last 16 shots.

As a team, Yale shot just 39.7 percent from the floor on the night — only the third time in eight games this season the Elis have been held under 40 percent shooting. Paul Vitelli ’04 and Alex Gamboa ’05, both of whom have double-digit scoring averages, scored only 6 and 8 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs.

Yale will take the court again Wednesday night at Long Island University (0-3) in Brooklyn, N.Y. It will be the third game in five days for Yale.

–Jeremy Licht