Hannibal, Mo. – The Columbia College men's basketball team jumped out to a 13-0 lead and never looked back, earning an 87-66 road win at Hannibal-LaGrange University on Tuesday in the 90th all-time meeting between the two programs.
 
Columbia won its fourth-straight game to improve to 14-2 and 3-0 in the American Midwest Conference (AMC), while Hannibal-LaGrange fell to 7-6 and 1-1 in the AMC.
 
Caleb Jones (19 points), Johnny Anderson (16), AJ Walker (16), Jemeal Goines (12) and Max Rieger (12) all scored in double figures for Columbia, which shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) from the field and hit 14 three-pointers in the win.
 
Columbia's defense forced six straight misses and four turnovers to open the contest, as the Cougars raced out to a 13-0 lead in the first five minutes. Hannibal-LaGrange answered with a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 17-12 with 9:39 remaining in the first half.
 
Clinging to a five-point edge at 21-16, Jones caught fire late in the half, scoring 12 points over the final 6:49 to extend Columbia's lead to 42-30 at halftime.
 
Jones went 4-of-5 from the field to lead the Cougars with 12 points, while Anderson added 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Columbia shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the floor and connected on 7-of-8 attempts from the foul line.
 
Back-to-back threes from Walker and Rieger pushed the advantage to 53-39, and then Walker canned another triple to make it 56-41 with 14:40 left. The Spartans answered with a 12-2 run to trim the advantage to 58-53. 
 
Boyer, Rieger and Walker canned threes to highlight an 13-0 run as the Cougars got the lead back to double figures (75-56) with 6:13 to play.
 
Davaughn Hueitt scored a game-high 21 points for Hannibal-LaGrange, while Ian McDonald (18) and Josh Talton (10) also hit double figures. The Spartans connected on 20-of-27 from the free-throw line in the defeat.
 
The Cougars travel to Harris-Stowe State University on Saturday, January 10 at 3 p.m.
 
NOTES: Columbia defeated Hannibal-LaGrange for the 15^th straight time and leads the all-time series 78-12 … The Cougars connected on 10 or more threes for the eighth time this season … Columbia turned the ball over just five times, the second lowest total of the season.