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By:
Josh FullerBirmingham, Ala. – A poor shooting night was the cause of the Columbus State University men's basketball team's first loss of the season Saturday as the Cougars fell 74-69 to Lane in the Miles Classic. The game took place at the Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham, Ala.
The Cougars shot just 34.4 percent (22-for-64) from the floor and were 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) on three-point attempts. CSU also missed 11 free throws, shooting 64.5 percent (20-for-31) from the charity stripe. All three shooting marks were season lows for the Cougars.
"Obviously, we had a tough time shooting the ball tonight," commented head coach
Robert Moore. "The worrisome thing was the free throw mark and we turned the ball over 14 times.
"We have to get back at it at practice and get ready for a very talented UNC Pembroke team."
The game was tight throughout with neither side holding a lead larger than seven. Both teams were cold coming out of the gates with the first field goal not coming until the 17:35 mark in the opening half.
Around the midpoint of the half, the Cougars found themselves down 11-8 before they reeled off six straight points to go in front 14-10 with 10:55 to play in the half. From there, CSU never trailed until the 3:44 mark when the Dragons scored five straight points, including getting a trifecta from Zollie Johnson to take a 28-27 lead.
Lane (4-6) led by three (32-29) with just over two minutes until halftime, but the Cougars rallied scoring seven of the final 10 points to hold a 36-35 lead at the break.
Demetres Abrams had a three-pointer during the run and
DeMarcus McVay gave the Cougars the lead with a layup in transition.
Columbus State (6-1) led by four just over one minute into the second half following a
Brentine Taylor tip-in. However from there, the Cougar offense went in a slump and didn't record another field goal for nearly 10 minutes.
With the Cougars slumping, Lane managed a 12-3 run to go up 49-44 with 10:02 left in the game. Terrance Bridgeman gave the Dragons the lead with a three-pointer at the 17:52 to mark to really spark the run and later added a lay-up to help pad the lead.
Darren Daniel finally broke the field goal drought at the 9:17 mark with a three-pointer to close the gap to two (49-47) and, just over a minute later, Daniel was at it again nailing another shot from downtown to make it a one-point game (51-50) with 8:12 to go.
Lane was able to build the lead back up to six (65-59) with three minutes to play before the Cougars made one last attempt to regain the lead. McVay nailed two free throws after being fouled and then forced a turnover on the following possession. After the inbound, Payne nailed a three-pointer to make it a 65-64 game with 2:39 to go.
However, the Cougars were never able to string baskets from there and Lane iced the game from the free throw line.
McVay led the way for the Cougars with 17 points followed by
Cam Baker with 16. Taylor had 11. McVay was one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.
For Lane, Bridgeman had a game-high 23 points with Kendarius Ash recording a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Joseph Cooper also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards.
As a team, the Dragons shot 44.4 percent (28-for-63) and were 4-for-12 from beyond the arc. From the line, Lane was 14-for-19.
Columbus State will now prepare for Peach Belt Conference action as the Cougars host UNC Pembroke on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. inside the Lumpkin Center.
