ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated Colby, 89-77, in the first game of the 40^th Annual Lopata Tournament. The Bears will play UC Santa Cruz in the Lopata Championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
Senior Drake Kindsvater led all scorers with 22 points and recorded a double-double with 12 rebounds. Senior Hayden Doyle netted 18 points with five rebounds and three assists while junior Calvin Kapral had 16 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Ryan Cohen also reached double-figures with 11 points.
 
The Bears opened the game on a 7-0 run behind a jumper from Doyle, a steal by Kindsvater and a 3-pointer from Doyle and a layup from Kapral. Colby got on the board with a 3-pointer from Marcos Montiel but Kapral added a jumper and junior Will Grudzinski hit a shot from distance for a 12-3 WashU lead at 17:14.
 
With the Bears up nine points, the Mules went on a 7-0 run to cut the WashU lead to 14-12. A jumper from junior Yogi Oliff and a layup from Kindsvater put the Bears back up by six points, 18-12, but Colby answered with five-straight points to make it a one-point, 18-17 game at the 11:11 mark.
 
Up two points at 8:53, first-year Connor May stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak, was fouled, and hit the ensuing free throw. Kapral scored on an offensive putback to put the Bears ahead 28-21.
 
Back-to-back layups from the Mules made it a three-point game and the teams exchanged baskets for the next few minutes. Up four points, Kindsvater put in a layup and Doyle hit a jumper for a 40-32 lead with 3:41 on the clock.
 
WashU continued to maintain a small lead as the first half wound down, extending it to eight points on a Doyle 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining. Colby responded with a 3-pointer from Dan Civello to send the Bears into the break with a 47-42 edge.
 
The Bears scored the first points of the second half as Kindsvater scored on an assist from Oliff. The teams continued to exchange baskets in the opening minutes, but WashU put together a 7-0 run to take a double-digit lead.
 
Kindsvater started the run with an offensive tip-in and Grudzinski laid one in. Kindsvater added another bucket, was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw for a 58-46 lead with 16:55 on the clock.
 
The Mules went on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to cut WashU's advantage down to 60-57 with 13:25 on the clock.
 
Up seven points with just over 11 minutes remaining, Kindsvater stole the ball and laid one in to start what would become an 11-0 run. Kapral hit a jumper in the paint and Kindsvater hit the front end of a pair of free throws. Doyle netted a fastbreak layup and Kapral hit a jumper following a steal by sophomore Emmett Lawton. Kindsvater closed out the run with a layup to make it a 77-59 game with 7:11 remaining.
 
As the time ticked down, the closest Colby would come would be 12 points following a 3-pointer from Ben Kaczmarek with 46 seconds remaining.
 
As a team, the Bears shot 37-for-70 and 9-for-26 from 3-point range. WashU edged Colby 38-28 on the boards.
 
Colby will take on Denison in the consolation game at 1 p.m. and the Bears will face UC Santa Cruz immediately after at 3 p.m.