COLORADO SPRINGS – Carleton College used a dominant first half to open an 18-point lead on the way to a 76-59 win over Whitworth University in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Classic on Friday night at Colorado College.

The Pirates (2-3) drop into Saturday's consolation game (5:30 pm MT) against the host Tigers (2-3), while the Knights (2-0) move into the championship against Carroll University (2-4) of Wisconsin.

The first eight minutes of the game featured six lead changes.  Whitworth got consecutive baskets from Sullivan Menard and Rowan Anderson to go ahead 18-14, the Pirates' largest and final lead of the game.  Carleton answered with a 9-0 run, including a three-pointer by Beck Page, to go up 23-18.  JT MeDermott's bucket pulled Whitworth within 27-24 before the Knights used an 11-0 run to extend the margin to 38-24.  Alex Gibbons scored the final five points of that run.  Carleton led 43-25 at halftime after making 17-31 first half shots (54.8%) and holding the Pirates to 10-32 (31.3%).

Whitworth cut the margin to 45-30 on McDermott's three-pointer, but Carlton went up 52-32 on a basket by Jeremy Beckler.  The Pirates put together their best six-minute stretch of the game, getting within 58-48 on another McDermott basket and then within 60-51 on a three-pointer by Stephen Behil.  The Knights retook control with another big run, outscoring Whitworth 14-2 to grab their largest lead of the game (74-53) with five minutes to play. 

McDermott led Whitworth with 19 points, while Anderson finished with 14 points.  The Pirates' shooting improved only slightly in the second half to 14 of 36 (38.9%). 

Three Carleton players reached double figures, led by Luke Harris who scored 23 and also grabbed nine rebounds.  The Knights finished the game 30 of 59 (50.8%) from the floor and held a 46-37 edge on the boards.