Columbus State Men’s Basketball Set to Kick Off Season Against No. 21 Alabama-Huntsville
Columbus – After last week's exhibition win over Auburn University, the Columbus State University men's basketball team opens the regular season tonight on the road against Alabama-Huntsville. Tip-off is schedule for 8:30 p.m. eastern time. The Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville are ranked 21st in the Preseason National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II Poll.
Columbus State shocked the Tigers in Auburn Monday night with a thrilling 54-52 victory. With 15 seconds left in the game and with the shot-clock about to expire, Steve Peterson connected on the game-winning shot to give the Cougars the 54-52 advantage. The defense then denied Auburn's last second efforts to tie the game and send it to overtime. Peterson had a double-double in the game with a game high 17 points and a team leading 11 rebounds. Donta Ridley and Jarmarquis Steverson scored 11 and nine points, respectively. Paul Darkwa had seven points with eight rebounds and added a monstrous block which was one of the highlights of the game for CSU.
Similar to Columbus State, Alabama-Huntsville also gave a Division I opponent a major scare. The University of Alabama edged past the Chargers in double-overtime on Nov. 8 with the final score being 73-68. Jamie Smith led UAH with 19 points while Zane Campbell was right behind him posting 18 points. Both Smith and Campbell are sophomores for the Chargers. Alabama-Huntsville also squared off against Vanderbilt University on November 3. The Commodores defeated UAH 69-53 with Campbell scoring 16 and Smith posting nine points respectively. UAH comes into the contest with a 2-0 record after opening the season with a pair of wins over the weekend including an 87-82 win over Florida Southern, the sixth-ranked team in the nation.
Columbus State finished the 2009-2010 with a 12-14 record while UAH had a mark of 23-7. It will be CSU head coach Robert Moore's first regular season contest manning the sidelines after spending seven years an assistant coach for the Cougars. Coach Moore scheduled the Auburn exhibition contest to give his players experience they could use against teams like Alabama-Huntsville and other Division II powerhouses.
"Going up to Alabama-Huntsville, we know it's not going to be an easy game at all. We are a very new team that is only going to get better as the season gets further along. This is a great test to begin the year against a very good team."
CSU and UAH have met 17 previous times with CSU holding the overall series lead with a record of 12-5. The last time these schools meet was on November 15, 2003 with the Cougars edging the Chargers 86-76. The previous meeting in Huntsville was in 1991 when Alabama-Huntsville defeated CSU 107-102. The Cougars are 5-2 in games that were played in Huntsville all-time. The schools have split the last six games. You can follow the game through live stats and also hear the voice of CSU athletics, Scott Miller call the contest by clicking on either the live stats or the audio link on www.csucougars.com
