Michael Grassey '19 gave the Hamilton College Continentals an early lead over Cazenovia College that they never relinquished for a 96-77 victory at Margaret Bundy Scott Field House on Monday night.

Hamilton (16-1 overall) -- ranked 16th in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll that was released late Monday, Jan. 22 – shot over 51 percent from the field and totaled 20 assists. Additionally, the Continentals collected 52 rebounds and blocked 10 shots, both season highs.

Cazenovia (4-12) went 8-for-16 from 3-point range and received 52 points from its bench.   

Grassey went 12-for-16 from the field with five 3-pointers for a career-high 29 points in just 23 minutes. Grassey also collected a career-best 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Peter Hoffmann '19 scored 17 points and had two steals. Andrew Groll '18 did it all in 13 minutes off the bench with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot. Spencer Kendall '21 came off the bench and chipped in eight points and four rebounds. Tim Doyle '19, Mike McEneney '21 and Kendall blocked two shots each.

Jaceary Menes (19 points) and Ahmon Powell (14) both scored season-highs for Cazenovia. Menes went 7-for-14 from the field including four 3-pointers, and Powell shot 6-for-9 from the field and added four steals. Rendall Garnes dropped in 13 points, and Trvon Balaam added nine points. Will Thompson tallied a team-best five rebounds and two blocked shots.

Grassey scored all of Hamilton's first seven points for a 7-2 lead at 16:49. Wil Thompson and Raishun Richardson quickly dropped in back-to-back layups to get the Wildcats within one point at 7-6. Following a Cazenovia timeout at 16:04, the Continentals went on a 12-2 run that ended with two 3-pointers by Grassey and doubled Hamilton's lead to 19-8 with 11:16 remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats refused to go away as Jallah Jackson hit two free throws to make the score 25-14 at 7:31 and ignited a 13-2 Cazenovia streak. Menes drained two straight buckets from downtown at 7:02 and 6:27 to get Cazenovia within five, and Blake Bagozzi ended the run with a trey at 5:18 to make the score 27-25.

Hoffmann brought control back to the home team with a slam off a feed from Groll at 5:04, and the Continentals followed with 14 unanswered points. Hoffmann not only started the run, he finished it with an old-fashioned 3-point play and a layup with 1:38 remaining to give Hamilton a 16-point lead at 41-25. Thompson canned two free throws for Cazenovia with one second remaining, cutting into Hamilton's 45-30 halftime advantage.

Cazenovia was able to maintain its 15-point deficit for nearly the first four minutes of the second half until Grassey and Hoffmann teamed up for six straight Hamilton points to make the score 58-37 at 14:52. The Continentals went up by 20 points on an offensive board and layup by Kendall with 11:45 remaining. Grassey hit a shot from beyond the arc at 11:00 and went on to score 12 of Hamilton's next 14 points for a 25-point lead at 79-54 with 7:07 left. McEneney posted up and drained a hook shot at 4:21, and his classmate Kendall followed with a layup to give Hamilton its largest lead of 28 points at 89-61 with 3:47 left. Menes scored half of the last 16 points for Cazenovia while Vince Conn '20 tallied five of Hamilton's last seven points.

Hamilton (3-1 NESCAC) hits the road this weekend for two NESCAC games in Maine. The Continentals face Bowdoin College (12-4, 2-2 NESCAC) on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. and Colby College (10-6, 1-3) on Saturday at 3 p.m.