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Junior swingman Luke Winfield had 10 points and 11 of the 12 Colorado College players scored Tuesday night as the Tigers defeated Johnson & Wales, 61-57, at Reid Arena. Freshman John Hatch added nine points, three rebounds and three steals in 13 minutes in his first collegiate game after recovering from a preseason injury.
 
Hatch led a second-half surge by throwing down a two-handed alley-oop dunk off a pass from Eric Houska to equal CC's biggest lead of the night at 42-29 with 12:56 remaining. Johnson & Wales (0-14) scored the next eight points to cut the lead to 42-37, but a three-pointer by senior Ryan Kell and a Winfield layup pushed the lead back to double-digits at 47-37 with just under 10 minutes left in the second half.
 
"John (Hatch) has a huge upside," said CC head coach Andy Partee. "To come in and shoot 50 percent, play above the rim and shoot the 3 in his first game is impressive. He's just scratching the surface."

The Wildcats' Michael Mitchell, who led all scorers with 18 points, drew the visitors as close as they would come with a three-pointer at the 6:34 mark to make it 51-48, but Hatch responded with the first three-pointer of his career on the next possession to put the Tigers up by six. Johnson & Wales cut the lead to four a couple of times the rest of the way, but Houska hit a three-pointer with 3:33 remaining and senior Russell Clark nailed an 18-foot jumper at the 1:45 mark to keep the Wildcats at bay.
 
Johnson & Wales scored the first 11 points of the game and CC (3-4) did not get on the board until the 14:23 mark with a layup from Houska. The Tigers rattled off the next 11 points and evened the game with a layup from junior Tyler Jonas with 9:01 remaining in the half. After the Wildcats scored the next five points over a 2:30 stretch, CC went on another 11-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Winfield, to take a 22-16 lead with 4:38 left. The Tigers entered halftime with a 31-22 advantage.
 
Senior Chris Lesnansky finished with eight points for CC, while Ryan Young had seven and Houska, Kell and Jonas each chipped in with five. Lesnansky pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and Houska dished out a game-high four assists.
 
Andrew Bonner had 17 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats, while Damon Jones posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Tigers are idle for a few weeks before heading to Las Vegas, Nev., for the D3Hoops.com Classicon Dec. 28 and 30.