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By:
Josh FullerFLORENCE, S.C. – Playing its first game in nearly two weeks, the 22
nd-ranked Columbus State University men's basketball team showed no rust, leading wire-to-wire in a 94-82 victory over Francis Marion. The Peach Belt Conference game took place inside the Smith University Center in Florence, S.C.
With the victory, Columbus State improves to 9-1, the program's best start to a season since 2002-03 when CSU Hall of Fame head coach Herbert Greene led the Cougars to a 27-5 record.
Cam Baker scored a season-high 30 points while dishing out eight assists and collecting three rebounds.
Brentine Taylor (14),
Brent Jackson (13) and
Darren Daniel (10) all scored in double digits for the Cougars.
"I thought our defense played well, especially in the first half," said CSU head coach
Robert Moore. "Our guys have really bought in on the defensive end and it's showing."
"On the individual level, Cam had a great first half as well. When he gets going early, it gets everybody started and makes our offense hard to stop."
Baker got the scoring going on a transition bucket following a
JaCori Payne steal and the Cougars never looked back. With just a little over four and a half minutes off the clock, CSU held a 12-5 lead thanks to seven points from Baker.
Francis Marion (7-4, 0-3 PBC) would stay in striking distance though and made it a one-point game (17-16) thanks to a quick 7-0 spurt.
In a three-point game with just eight minutes to go in the half, the Cougars stepped on the gas pedal and went on a 13-2 run to take a commanding 36-22 lead. Baker was again the key component scoring eight of the 13 points, including hitting a three-pointer and finishing a three-point play. Taylor and Jackson also contributed to the run.
The Patriots cut the lead back to single digits, but the Cougars responded with nine unanswered points to take an 18-point lead (45-27), their largest of the half. Jackson had six of the nine, including knocking down a three, while Baker also was good on a long ball.
Baker scored the final bucket of the half to reach 23 first half points and give the Cougars a 50-32 lead.
Columbus State continued adding on to its lead in the second half. With 16:17 showing on the clock, Baker gave CSU a 20-point lead with another long ball making the score 61-41.
From there, the Cougars would hold a lead no smaller than 18 points for nearly 10 minutes. The Cougars would stretch the lead back over to 20 points with little over four minutes to go before the Patriots played their best stretch of the entire game in the closing minutes. FMU scored 15 of the final 21 points to get to the final tally.
Arben Camaj had a team high eight rebounds to go along with his six points. Daniel also had a good stat night finishing with six rebounds and five assists.
As a team, CSU shot 53.8 percent (35-for-65) from the floor while going 11-for-28 (39.3 percent) from three.
Francis Marion was led by Detrek Browning who scored 26 points with nine rebounds. Mike Davis and Alante Fenner had 16 and 15 points, respectively.
FMU shot 40.3 percent (29-for-72) and 37.5 percent (12-for-32) from three.
Columbus State will return to the floor on Monday, Jan. 4 taking on Armstrong State in Savannah, Ga. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
