Brady Cummins mostly watched and learned last winter during his first season of college basketball at Colgate University.

This year it’s different. Cummins, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from York, has been a starter for Colgate since mid-January. Last week he scored a career-high 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting to help the Raiders whack Lehigh 74-55 to capture the Patriot League championship.

With the win, Colgate qualified for its fifth straight NCAA Tournament.

“Even though I really didn’t play last year I was able to see all the preparation and what the guys did leading up to the (NCAA) game,” Cummins said. “That definitely helps me. And also just knowing that the whole team is confident that this year we can win a game.”

Colgate (25-9) is the 14th seed in the West Region. It will play No. 3 Baylor (23-10) at 12:40 p.m. Friday in Memphis, Tennessee.

Colgate has been the dominant team in the Patriot League under Coach Matt Langel, having won five of the past six conference championships and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“We set goals as a team at the beginning of the year and obviously the main goals are to win the regular season and also win the tournament for the Patriot League,” Cummins said. “We’ve done that like the past three years. So this year we’ve been emphasizing taking the next step, which would be to win a March Madness game.”

Colgate has never beaten a ranked opponent. Baylor is 14th in the latest AP poll.

Cummins’ 19-point gem against Lehigh was his ninth double-figure scoring effort. He averages 7.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game.

Langel noted in his postgame media conference that a key for Colgate was controlling the game down low, which “gave Brady Cummins a chance to drive to the basket.”

Cummins said he made his first two shots, “which always helps setting you up for the whole game and my teammates kept finding me and that makes it so much easier,” Cummins said. “Driving lanes were open so I could get downhill. There was one play where they had a big on me and he backed up so I shot (a 3-pointer) right in his face.”

Ever since his early days at York High, going to the basket has been a good strategy for Cummins. He has both the length and vertical leap to be a decisively quick finisher. He showed that repeatedly at York High. As a junior he earned Varsity Maine All-State honors and led the Wildcats to the Class A South championship, averaging 18.5 points and 7.6 rebounds. York lost the state final to Hampden Academy.

Cummins transferred to the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, and repeated his junior season, with an eye toward increasing his strength and gaining more exposure on the recruiting trail.

In his freshman season at Colgate, Cummins saw minimal action, appearing in 15 games and scoring a total of 15 points.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the opportunity I’ve had this year compared to last year,” Cummins said. “I’ve definitely developed more as a player, but last year we had a very experienced and older team. I was one of just two freshmen with like 10 upperclassmen. I knew all offseason that I didn’t want the season to be the same as last year in terms of my contributions.”

Cummins is one of four players from Maine in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The other three are from Scarborough: Tennessee freshman J.P. Estrella, Howard sophomore Dom Campbell, and Vermont graduate student Nick Fiorillo.

Earlier this season Colgate went to Burlington and handed Vermont its only home loss. Cummins had 11 points off the bench against Vermont, impressing Fiorillo.

“Brady Cummins from York, he’s come a long way this year and I’ll give him a lot of credit. He played very well,” Fiorillo said.

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