AMHERST, Mass. – Seniors Noah Helmke and Will Scherer each scored double-doubles Tuesday night, helping the Mammoths maintain their unbeaten home record with an 81-40 win against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

The Mammoths advanced to a 5-2 record on the season while the Trailblazers dropped to 0-9. Amherst will hit the road to play Westfield State University this Thursday, where they will meet the Owls at 6 p.m. in the Woodward Center.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* After initially dropping behind by three in the opening two minutes, the Mammoths blasted off on a 13-0 run highlighted by a strong push from Helmke, who sunk a jump shot three-pointer and two layups to add seven in the span of two minutes. Junior Giovanni Tam closed the run with a layup from the paint after senior Bobby Sommers found the tall center open inside the arc in the eighth minute.

* Buckets from both sides maintained a ten-point gap between the Mammoths and the Trailblazers until the twelfth minute, when first-year Elias Chin drove a layup from the block and sunk a shot from behind the arc within one minute to take Amherst to a 25-10 lead.

*Late layups from Tam and Scherer closed the stanza for the Mammoths 36-18. Scherer went to the locker room as the game's top scorer, having notched 12 points and 7 rebounds alone for Amherst.

*The Trailblazers threatened to tighten their deficit at the start of the second half, with graduate-student Jackson Brown nailing two three-pointers in the opening 90 seconds to add six. However, the Mammoths responded with an 11-0 run of their own in the following seven minutes. While junior Chris Hammond, junior Drew Martin, and Tam sunk jump shots, Scherer kept the Trailblazers scoreless with one block and two defensive rebounds.

*The Mammoths closed the game with a 16-point run spearheaded by Hammond and sophomore Johnny McCain, who each sunk two threes from behind the arc in the final nine minutes.

BY THE NUMBERS:

*Amherst closed the night with a dominant advantage in shooting, sinking 50% (30-60) of shots from the floor compared to 24.2% (15-62) from the Trailblazers. The Mammoths held a tighter advantage in three-pointers made, scoring 35.3% compared to 19.4% from the visiting side.

*Scherer led as the game's lead scorer, notching 19 points. The center also stole 11 rebounds for the Mammoths, giving him a double-double. Helmke also earned a double-double, shooting 12 points and garnering 10 rebounds.

*Brown was the game's second top scorer, tallying 15 points for the visitors.