Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College men's basketball team opened the game with an 11-0 run and went on to earn a 70-51 victory over Crowley's Ridge College on Saturday at the Arena of Southwell Complex.
 
Columbia won its fifth-straight game to improve to 10–1 and 2-0 in the American Midwest Conference, while Crowley's Ridge fell to 4-5 and 0-1 in the AMC.
 
Johnny Anderson (12 points, eight rebounds) and Adam Sausele (12 points) paced the Cougars, while Justin Boyer provided 11 points off the bench and Marcelous Phillips contributed 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Columbia dominated the specialty stats in the conference win, piling up a 29-9 edge in points off turnovers and a 15-6 advantage in second-chance points.
 
"It's a conference win, and I thought we defended well. When you hold a team to 51 points, you put yourself in a position to win," said head coach Tomas Brock. "Our guys have been unselfish and focused — it's not about who scores, it's about doing what it takes to win."
 
Columbia stormed out to an 11-0 start behind two early threes from Anderson. Crowley's Ridge missed its first seven shot attempts and didn't get on the board until the 13:39 mark. A corner three from Phillips pushed the lead to 16-2 with 12:38 before half.
 
Columbia closed the first half on a 14-2 surge, fueled by three-point plays from both Jemeal Goines and AJ Walker, to take a 33-12 advantage into the break.
 
The Cougars held Crowley's Ridge to just 3-of-20 shooting (15.0 percent) and did not allow a three-pointer in the opening half. Sausele led with seven points, while Anderson and Phillips chipped in six apiece.
 
Back-to-back threes from Anderson and Walker stretched the lead to 39-16, and Sausele then fueled a 9-0 spurt with five points to make it 50-24 with 12:51 left.
 
Boyer, who had seven second-half points, drained a three from the wing to push the lead to 60-28 with 8:48 left.
 
Cole Nichols and Hayden Robinson each had 12 points to lead Crowley's Ridge, who hit just 2-of-15 from three-point range but hit 13-of-15 from the free-throw line in the loss.
 
The Cougars have a week off before returning to action at Missouri Valley College on Saturday, December 13 at 4 p.m.
 
NOTES: Columbia leads the all-time series 5-0 … The Cougars have allowed 60 or less points five times this season.