Westwego, La. – Led by a career-high tying 23 points from Travis Curley (Stamford, Conn.), Clark University shot a sizzling 63 percent from the field en route to an easy 82-62 win over the University of Southern Maine in their first game at the Big Easy Challenge on Wednesday evening.

With the win, the Cougars improve to 7-4 overall and eclipsed the 80-point barrier for the second time this season.

After trailing by as many as ten in the opening minutes of the game, the Cougars took the lead for good on a John Karas (South Glastonbury, Conn.) three-pointer at the 6:58 mark. Those points were part of a half-ending 21-3 run that saw Clark head into the half with a 40-28 edge.

Southern Maine got as close as eight points at 53-45 on a Connor Sullivan fast break finish, but the Cougars went on another prolonged run – another 21-3 burst over five minutes to put the game out of reach at 72-46.

In addition to Curley's hot shooting performance (9-for-13, 5-for-8 from three-point land), Clark got a season-best 15 points in just 16 minutes from Mitch Renshaw (Rutland, Mass.) and 13 points and six blocks from D.J. Bailey (Palmer, Mass.).

Tucker Esborn (Branford, Conn.) added 10 points, while Drew Billington (Fairfield, Conn.) added seven assists.

Playing in front of a home crowd, Huskies' senior Jeremy Jackson (Laplace, La.) paced Southern Maine (6-4) with 17 points and six rebounds.

Clark will have Thursday off before wrapping up tournament play on Friday with a game against Birmingham Southern – a team ranked 22nd in the latest D3hoops.com national poll and averaging 90.1 points per game.