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By:
Josh FullerCOLUMBUS – The Columbus State University men's basketball team opened the game on a 22-4 run and cruised to a 74-49 victory over USC Aiken Saturday afternoon. The Peach Belt Conference game took place inside the Lumpkin Center.
CSU limited the Pacers to just 16 first half points after shooting a dismal 22.2 percent (6-for-27).
"I thought we played very well on the defensive side of the floor today," said head coach
Robert Moore. "We were swarming to the ball and that makes it difficult to hit shots."
Cam Baker hit the first shot of the game at the 18:36 mark and the Cougars would never look back building an 11-2 lead just a little over five and a half minutes into the game.
Following an Arbry Butler jumper for USC Aiken (2-7, 0-2 PBC), Columbus State would take a commanding 22-4 lead thanks to a 12-0 Cougar run.
Brent Jackson fueled the spurt with seven points while hitting a three-pointer to close the run.
The Cougar lead would hit a half-high 21 points (32-11) with 5:35 on the clock following six straight points from
Matthias Sigurdarson.
Following the break, the two teams would exchange threes before
Darren Daniel hit a jumper for the Cougars to make it a 42-19 game.
However from there, USC Aiken would play its best stretch of basketball on the day going on a 15-3 run to pull the deficit to 11 points (45-34). The Pacers hit two three-pointers during the spurt with Jordan Foster and Keith Belfield having five points apiece.
In a 12-point game (55-43), Columbus State (8-1, 2-0) closed the game out strong, using a 15-2 run to go-ahead by 25 (70-45) with just 3:13 to play. Jackson was once again the driving factor in the spurt, netting eight points including a three.
Jackson paced the Cougars with a game-high 20 points thanks to a 7-for-9 shooting performance. The senior was also perfect from beyond the arc going 3-for-3.
Sigurdarson was the only other CSU player with double-figure points as the sophomore scored a season-high 10.
DeMarcus McVay had 11 rebounds to go along with his eight points and two blocks.
Arben Camaj had five points and rebounds and three rejections.
As a team, CSU shot 46.0 percent (29-for-63) from the floor while going 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) from three. At the free throw line, the Cougars shot 75.0 percent (9-for-12).
For USC Aiken, Glen Campbell led the way with 11 points while Butler just missed out on a double-double after scoring nine points and grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Pacers shot just 30.6 percent (19-for-62) as a team and 25.9 percent (7-for-27) from three-point range.
Columbus State will have over two weeks off before taking on Francis Marion on Sat., Jan. 2. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. in Florence, S.C.
