March 10, 2012

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Montevallo, AL – The Columbus State men's basketball team was within a possession with 7:33 remaining in the contest but No. 14 Anderson pulled away late in the contest eventually pulling out a 77-64 victory over the Cougars in the first round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament. 

With the victory, the third-seeded Trojans will take on No. 7 seed Wingate in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.  WU advanced by defeating second seed USC Aiken 73-70.

CSU ends its season at 18-12 while Anderson improves to 25-5.

Columbus State got off to a quick start as Idell Bell and Steve Peterson each knocked down a three-pointer on their first two possessions jumping out to a 6-2 lead a minute thirty-five into the game.

Things got cold quickly from there as the Cougars missed their next seven shots and went 1-for-10 over the next seven minutes as AU went on an 18-3 run.  Dezail Jones had six points and Stephen Cobb added five as Anderson connected on four treys during that time.

The Cougars were able to string together six straight points as Jarmarquis Steverson, Paul Darkwa and Peterson each added a bucket to narrow the deficit to five, 20-15 with 9:51 to go in the opening half.

Both sides would trade off baskets over the remainder of the half until Dimitri Davis tallied the final four points of the half for Columbus State making it a 32-31 contest heading into the break.

Coming out the break, Taylor Shugart went 1-for-2 at the line for Anderson before Paul Darkwa hit a jumper off the glass knotting the game at 33-33 thirty-six seconds into the half.  The final time the score would be tied was at the 15:14 mark as Dimitri Davis made a field goal making it 40-all.

Anderson scored 10 of the next 14 points to pull ahead 50-44 with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation.  Cobb knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to extend the AU lead to six.

The Trojans were not able to pull away until late in the contest.  After Steve Peterson made a pair of free throws with 5:56 to go, AU went on a 16-4 run over the next 4:30 as they took their biggest lead of the game, 77-60.  Five different players scored for Anderson over that span.

Offensively, Columbus State shot 36.5% (23-for-63) from the field including just 27.3% (6-for-22) from three-point range.  Idell Bell paced the team scoring a game high 17 points including three treys.  Dimitri Davis added a career high 16 points as he went 6-for-9 from the floor and made all four of his free throws.  Steve Peterson was the only other Cougar in double figures chipping in with 12.

Stephen Cobb and Denzail Jones notched 17 points apiece while Taylor Shugart and Tyrell McDowell posted 13 and 12 points, respectively.  Shugart had the lone double-double of the contest as he also grabbed a game high 12 rebounds. 

AU, who normally makes eight three's a game, drained 13 on the day, two shy of their season high.  Cobb entered the contest having made 16 shots from long distance all year picked a great time to have his best shooting performance of the season as he was a perfect 5-for-5  from deep.

Anderson was 25-for-54 (46.3%) from the field and a sizzling 13-for-26 from long range.  They held a slight 38-37 edge on the glass.