AMHERST, Mass. – David George '17 and Johnny McCarthy '18 each recorded a double-double and the Amherst College men's basketball team hit 13 three-pointers as it cruised to an 83-62 win over Colby College Friday night in NESCAC action at LeFrak Gymnasium.

The Jeffs went 9-of-18 from downtown during the first 20 minutes of play en route to the win as they improve to 13-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play. The Mules have now lost two straight and fall to 11-8 on the year and 3-3 in the NESCAC.

George recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 10 rebounds. He also blocked four shots and now has a league-high 40 on the season. McCarthy notched his third double-double of his career with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The first-year went 4-for-7 from downtown and blocked a season-high six shots. Connor Green '16 was lights out early in the game but foul trouble limited the junior to 16 minutes, however, he still finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting as well as 5-of-7 from downtown. Reid Berman '18 found the open shooter early and often Friday night and finished with a career-high 13 assists.

Three players scored in double-figures for Colby as Ryan Jann led the way with 14 points, while Luke Westman and Pat Dickert scored 12 and 10, respectively. Westman also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, recorded a team-high four steals and dished out a team-high two assists. He was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line and went 4-of-7 from the floor.

Amherst came out hot Friday night when Green started things off with a three-pointer just 29 seconds into regulation. The junior hit another bucket on the Jeffs' following possession and a lay-up by George and a jumper by Green, respectively, put the home team ahead, 9-0.

Sam Willson snapped Amherst's run at the 17:45 mark but a three-pointer by McCarthy seconds
later lifted the home team's lead to double-digits.

The Jeffs continued to feed the hot hand early in the half as Green hit back-to-back jumpers from behind-the-arc just 14 seconds apart to give the Purple & White a 16-point lead with 14:45 to play before the break. He scored 13 points in the first 6:15 of Friday's game. 

Minutes later, a three from McCarthy capped off a 16-2 run in just 3:32 as they took a commanding 28-6 lead. The Jeffs built themselves an early cushion and never looked back as they continued to connect from deep en route to a 51-32 advantage at halftime.

The second half started off much like the first as Berman found Green for the three just 36 seconds into play. Racy hit one of his three from downtown just seconds later and another jumper from deep by McCarthy at the 16:18 mark lifted Amherst's lead to 26.

The Jeffs held a 20-plus advantage for most of the second half as they cruised to the 83-62 victory. As a team, they shot 30-of-65 (46.2%) from the floor, 13-of-32 (40.6%) from behind-the-arc and 10-of-13 (76.9%) from the charity stripe. The Mules went just 3-of-19 (15.8%) from downtown, while shooting 22-of-62 (35.5%) from the floor and 15-of-22 (68.2%) from the free throw line.

Amherst returns to the court tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 31 and will host Bowdoin College at 3 p.m. The Polar Bears are coming off a 67-66 overtime loss Friday night at Trinity to fall to 4-2 in conference play.