Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead, scoring 11 of the first 13 points, and never looked back in a 93-66 victory over No. 23-ranked Graceland University on Saturday at the Arena of Southwell Complex.
Columbia held Graceland without a field goal for 10 consecutive minutes in the first half and carried a 47-23 lead into halftime.
Max Rieger scored a career-high 20 points off the bench, while
Johnny Anderson (13),
Jemeal Goines (13),
AJ Walker (11) and
Adam Sausele (10) all scored in double figures. The Cougars shot 52.4 percent (33-63) from the field and had a 44-32 rebounding advantage.
Columbia improved to 3-0 with the win, while Graceland fell to 1-1. The Cougars are 3-0 for the second time in the last three years.
"Graceland is a very good team and we came out focused defensively and we hit a couple shots early. This is a really good win for our team," said head coach
Tomas Brock.
The Cougars drained there first three shots from beyond the arc and led 11-2 in the opening 2:54. The lead grew to double figures (18-5) after an 8-0 run.
After a bucket by Graceland, Columbia scored 15-straight points to increase the lead to 33-7 with 7:58 left. Rieger's three-pointer pushed the lead to 41-9, its largest of the first half.
Anderson led the Cougars with 12 first-half points, while Goines had 11 and Reiger added 10 as Columbia built a commanding 47-23 lead. The Cougars limited the Yellowjackets to 23.1 percent shooting (6-26) in the first half, including 3-of-18 from three-point range.
Graceland hit five of its first six shots to open the second half on a 13-3 run to the deficit to 50-36. Sausele followed with a bucket and a three as the Cougars got the lead back over 20 (58-37) with 14:13 to play.
Deundra Roberson had a team-high 16 points for Graceland, while Cole Bowen had 13 and Kaamil Domingo added 11. The Yellowjackets shot 29.1 percent from the field in the loss, including 7-of-33 from three-point range.
The Cougars play its first road game of the season on Thursday, Nov. 6 at Central Methodist University. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
NOTES: Columbia leads the all-time series 5-1 ... Rieger is averaging 12.7 points per game off the bench.
