AMHERST, Mass. -- The Amherst College men's basketball team scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to pull away from Colby-Sawyer College and collect an 89-52 win on Wednesday night in the team's home opener at LeFrak Gymnasium.

Senior captain Grant Robinson tallied 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals for the Mammoths (2-0), who open the season with back-to-back wins for the 20th straight season. Amherst takes the court again on Friday, Nov. 19, for the Ken Wright Invitational, hosting Massachusetts Liberal Arts in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Freshman Kevin Cummings led the Chargers (1-2) with 12 points.

"It was a great overall team win," said head coach Marlon Sears, who won his debut at LeFrak Gymnasium as the Mammoths got 48 points off the bench. "In the second half, guys really started to guard in the half-court. Will Phelan and Canin Reynolds came in and did a great job changing the pace of the game."

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• After Omar Boone scored the first basket of the game for the Chargers, the Mammoths responded with 8 straight points, bookended by threes from Robinson and Garrett Day, and held the lead for the rest of the game.
• In the final second of the first half, Mohammed Alausa was fouled shooting a three and drained all three free throws to give the Mammoths a 46-33 lead at halftime.
• The Mammoths added to the lead early in the second. Cummings hit a three for the Chargers to make the score 66-49 at the midway point of the second half. After that, the Mammoths dominated the rest of the game, going on a 23-0 run that wasn't broken up until Zack Caraballo hit a three in the final minute of the game.
• Amherst shot 9-of-14 from the field and forced 6 Colby-Sawyer turnovers during the run. Seven different Mammoths scored on the run with Robinson, Day and first-year Noah Helmke netting 5 points each.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Alausa followed up his 14-point collegiate debut with a 15-point outing on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. The sophomore guard is now shooting 9-of-12 from the field through the first two games of his collegiate career.
• Day was the third Mammoth scoring in double figures with 11 points.
• Also playing in their second collegiate games, Will Scherer scored 7 points but made his mark defensively with 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals, while Helmke scored his first collegiate points, netting 8 points in the game.
• Sophomore Dan Schlakman scored 8 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field.
• The Mammoths shot 56 percent (34-of-61) from the field while holding the Chargers to 40 percent (21-of-53) shooting.
• Amherst forced 19 Colby-Sawyer turnovers and held a 24-11 lead in points off turnovers, while the Mammoths turned 13 offensive rebounds into an 18-7 advantage in second-chance points.