ALBANY, Ga. – The Columbus State University men's basketball team made it five consecutive wins to start the season with a 74-56 victory at Albany State on Sunday night. The game was played inside the HPER Gymnasium as part of the Albany State Holiday Classic.

Brentine Taylor scored a season-best 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead the way for the Cougars. The senior added eight rebounds as well.

Despite playing only 24 minutes because of foul trouble, Cam Baker dropped in 13 points with four assists. Brent Jackson and Demarcus McVay each finished with 10 points and five rebounds to give the Cougars four double digit scorers.

"I thought we played well tonight, especially in the first half," said head coach Robert Moore. "We still have lots of room for improvement though, as I thought we had too many lulls tonight where we didn't stay focused."

Columbus State (5-0) came charging out of the gates, scoring the first 13 points of the game. It was not until a three-pointer went through at the 16:17 mark that Albany State got on the board.

The lead continued to grow for the Cougars, as CSU went on a 21-5 run to open up a 34-8 advantage. Taylor capped the extended spurt with an emphatic slam. The 26-point lead would match the largest of the night for the Cougars, with the last occurrence coming at 39-13.

Albany State (1-3) would then fight its way back into the game getting the lead down to just 16 with under one minute to play in the half. JaCori Payne would hit a big three though to stretch the margin back out to 19 and give Columbus State a 49-30 lead at the break.

The Cougars shot 61.1 percent from the field in the first half, knocking down 22-of-36 attempts.

The offense cooled in the second half however, with the Golden Rams scoring the first nine points of the second half to get the lead down to just 10.

Columbus State weathered the storm with an 8-0 run of its own to push the margin back to 18.

The Golden Rams continued to battle late, cutting the lead down to 12 with under four minutes to play. Taylor then came up huge for CSU on a pair of possessions, twice grabbing offensive rebounds and laying the ball back in to help Columbus State hold on for the win.

The Cougars went cold in the second half and finished the game shooting at a 51.8 percent (29-for-56) clip for the game.

CSU limited Albany State to just 31 percent (18-of-58) from the field and 5-for-26 from behind the arc.

Columbus State will have nearly two weeks off now before heading to Birmingham, Ala. for the Miles Classic Dec. 11-12.