Senior forward
CooXooEii Black and junior guard
Eric Jonas combined for 57 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Colorado College men's basketball team to a 101-82 victory over Whittier College on Friday night at Reid Arena.
Black poured in a career-high 33 points on 11-of-14 shots from the floor. He also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to complete his second double-double of the season.
Jonas netted a career-best 24 points, making seven of 12 field-goal attempts. His triple from the left corner gave the Tigers an 87-71 lead with 2:16 remaining and effectively sealed the victory.
In all, five Tigers recorded double-digit points as CC hit the century mark for the first time since a 100-74 victory over Hendrix College on Feb. 18, 2012.
First-year guard
Aaron Acosta finished with 15 points for Colorado College, while junior winger
Nabeel Elabdeia and senior guard
Edmund Pendleton added 12 and 10, respectively.
CC connected on 12-20 shots from behind the arc, while the Poets made just 12 of 45 long-range efforts.
The Tigers appeared to be in complete command when they scored the first nine points of the second half. Black hit a layup and three-pointer from the right wing, Elabdeia knocked down a jumper from the right baseline and then Black sank a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 62-41 cushion.
Whittier cut its deficit to 11 for the final time when Conner Longmire knocked down a jumper with 4:01 remaining, but Colorado College answered with an 11-3 surge and extended its lead to 93-74 when Jonas canned a pair of free throws with 93 seconds to play.
The first half featured runs by both teams.
CC held a 14-10 lead after Acosta hit a three-pointer, but Whittier scored eight in a row before Jonas banked in a floater on the right side and completed the three-point play.
That basket ignited a 17-0 run and the Tigers took a 31-18 lead on a pair of Black free throws with 8:41 remaining in the first half.
Longmire ended the scoring drought with two free throws and then he hit a pair three-pointer from the left wing to get the Poets back to within five points 7:13 to go.
After Longmire scored 10 in a row, Elabdeia knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner, and after a Poet Bucket,
Scott Cunningham buried a triple from the right side.
Jonas scored seven in a row with a pair of layups on the right side and then a three-pointer from the top of the circle to give the Tigers 45-35 lead with 3:08 to play.
CC took 53-41 lead into the break after Black scored on a drop-step on the left side of the lane with 31 seconds to play.
Colorado College shot a blistering 63.3 percent from the floor during the first half and finished the game with a 55.4 field-goal percentage.
Longmire led the Poets with 30 points and nine rebounds.
Nick Potthoff added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Poets, who dropped to 1-4.
The Tigers, who improved to 3-3, play host to UC Santa Cruz on Saturday at 4 p.m.