Colorado College took over sole possession of first place in the Western Division of the Southern Collegiate Athletics Conference with a 107-84 victory over Southwestern University on Sunday afternoon at Reid Gymnasium.
The Tigers improved to 7-5 overall and 4-0 in the SCAC, one game ahead of travel partner Austin College which dropped a 90-80 decision at home to Trinity University.
Nick Rose poured in a career-high 35 points in just 24 minutes, the least amount of playing time in one of his nine career 30-point performances. He made 13 of 20 field-goal attempts, including five of eight from three-point range.
The Tigers eclipsed the 100-point plateau for the first time since a 102-51 victory over Denver's Johnson & Wales University on Feb. 19, 2004, and the 107 points were the most for CC since a 109-82 win against Tufts University on Nov. 30, 2002.
Colorado College recorded season high with a .617 field-goal percentage, a .552 shooting percentage from behind the three-pint line, 16 three-point buckets and 31 assists.
Despite shooting 60 percent from the field and from behind the arc, CC was unable to pull away from the Pirates. Nick Caputo scored 12 of his team-leading 27 points during the opening 20 minutes to keep SU in the game.
The Tigers took a 34-21 lead when Rose buried his second long-range shot, but Southwestern was still within eight points after Jonathan Brown converted a three-point play with 5:02 to play in the first half.
After Caputo trimmed CC's lead to 49-39, Colin Madden, Rose and Jake Tramutolo each canned a three pointer as the Tigers closed out the half on a 9-3 run to build a 58-42 lead after 20 minutes.
Colorado College's lead reached 20 points when Ian Rewoldt scored with 16:29 to play, and Jeff Smith nailed his first three pointer with 7:58 remaining to give the Tigers a 31-point advantage for the first time.
Smith made all four of his shots from the floor, including a pair from behind the arc, en route to a career-high 13 points. Ryan Milne tallied eight points and dished out six assists, while Jake Tramutolo made all three of his long-range shots to finish with nine points. The Tigers got at least two points from 11 of their 12 players.
Robbie Hanley and Brown scored 13 points apiece for the Pirates.
Colorado College travels to Austin College next Saturday.
