Box Score Gabe Chavez certainly made the most of his first career start.

Chavez recorded career highs of 23 points and eight rebounds, but the Colorado College men's basketball team dropped an 87-65 decision at Johnson & Wales University in a non-conference tilt on Tuesday night.

The sophomore forward made 11 of 13 shots from the floor and surpassed his total of 21 points from his previous 13 appearances this season.

John Hatch came off the bench to score 14 points for the Tigers, reaching double digits for the 15th time in 16 games.

Also making their first career starts were junior guard Connor Reese, freshman forward CooXooEii Black and freshman guard Sean Stem.

Reese recorded season highs of eight points and six assists, while Black reached double figures for the sixth time with 10 points.

With Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games against Trinity University and Schreiner University on tap this weekend, junior guards Eric Houska and Ryan Young were given the night off, while Hatch and Chris Martin played a combined 33 minutes.

CC cut its deficit to 62-54 when Chavez scored on a layup with 7:03 remaining, but the Wildcats closed out the contest with a 25-11 surge.   

Jontrell Herman finished with a game-high 35 points for JWU, which improved to 15-7.

Andrew Romero added 25 points and a game-high eight assists for the Wildcats.