Cougars Win Home Finale 68-56 Over Georgia Southwestern

Columbus, Ga. -- Columbus State jumped out to a big lead in the second half and then held off a furious rally late by Georgia Southwestern to post a 68-56 win at the Lumpkin Center on Wednesday. The game was the regular-season home finale for the Cougars as they will conclude the regular season on the road at Montevallo on Saturday.

The Cougars' PBC Tournament hopes are still alive after Clayton State's loss at North Georgia on Wednesday. If CSU can defeat Montevallo and get some help from Georgia Southwestern at Clayton State on Saturday, the two teams will be tied. CSU looks to hold the tie-breaker by virtue of its record against division opponents. The Cougars are 4-5, while Clayton State is 2-7. CSU's overall record stands at 12-13 with a 6-10 mark in PBC play.

In Wednesday's game the CSU defense held the Hurricanes to just three field goals in the opening period. GSW went 3-22 from the floor for a frigid 14 percent shooting and the Cougars took advantage. CSU built a double-digit lead just over six minutes into play and held the Hurricanes to just one field goal for the first 13:20 of the game. CSU took a 31-17 lead into halftime.

In the second half, things did not get better for the visitors in the early going. CSU out-scored the Hurricanes 10-3 in the first four minutes of play and ran out to a 41-20 advantage after a overhead, backward slam by Nick Gagnon with 16:24 left. CSU would hold a comfortable lead for the next nine minutes, but started to get a little sloppy on both ends of the floor and GSW took advantage.

Marcus Scott's three-pointer with 10:42 left started the Hurricanes on a 10-2 run which cut the lead to just 10 points at 48-38 with 7:11 left. CSU got the margin back to 13 after two Blake Zamudio free-throws with 4:03 left made it 55-42, but an 11-2 run put GSW right back into the thick of things with just less than two minutes left.

Evan Mobley canned a three-pointer to start the run and his three-point play capped it, cutting the Cougar lead to just 57-53 with 1:56 remaining. That would turn out to be as close as the Hurricanes would get. A three-point play by Lamar WIlliams with 14 seconds left and two Brandon Bland free-throws with five seconds left sealed the win for the Cougars.

Williams and Telesford combined for 33 points to lead the Cougars' offense. Williams hit for 17 points adn grabbed six rebounds, while Telesford notched his PBC-best 11th double-double of the year with 16 points and 11 rebounds. CSU shot 43 percent in the game and held a slim 36-34 advantage in rebounding.

Mobley led the Hurricanes (7-19, 3-13) with 24 points, including four treys. Chris Rawls added 18 points and 11 rebounds, including a 12-15 night at the free-throw line. GSW rebounded to shoot 41 percent in the second half and finished at 30 percent for the game.

The season finale at Montevallo is set for 4:30 p.m. on the UM campus and will be the first visit to Montevallo for CSU since the Falcons joined the PBC.