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By:
Josh FullerAMERICUS, Ga. – The Columbus State University men's basketball team outscored Georgia Southwestern 42-27 in the second half to record its eighth road victory in the last nine games defeating the Hurricanes 76-59 Saturday afternoon. The Peach Belt Conference tilt took place inside the Storm Dome in Americus, Ga.
With the win along with a Young Harris loss, CSU (15-4, 9-3 PBC) is now in a three-way tie for first place in the PBC West division. Georgia Southwestern falls to 8-11 and 4-8 inside the PBC.
"I felt like the guys came here ready to play," commented Cougar head coach
Robert Moore. "We let them back in the game late in the first half, but to play the second half that we did was phenomenal to see."
Columbus State came out of the gates hot, scoring the game's first seven points to take a 7-0 lead three minutes into the contest. CSU would eventually push the lead out to nine (12-3) on a
Cam Baker layup with 14:44 on the clock.
CSU continued to control the pace of the game and took a half-high 10-point lead (23-13) before GSW started its rally.
With 7:04 until the break, the Hurricanes strung together eight straight points to pull within two of the Cougars. Three different players scored during the spurt, including Adam Thoseby who had four.
Columbus State broke the scoring draught with a
Matthias Sigurdarson three-pointer that quickly pushed the score to 30-24.
JaCori Payne followed with a bucket increasing CSU's lead back out to eight.
However once again, GSW went on a quick 8-0 run to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip in the final minute of the half. The Hurricanes hit back-to-back threes that fueled the spurt.
Brentine Taylor scored the final two points of the half from the charity stripe to give the Cougars a 34-32 halftime lead.
Coming out of the break, Georgia Southwestern continued its hot shooting scoring the half's first five points to take its first lead of the game at 37-34. Gunjina hit the go-ahead layup just 30 seconds into the second period and completed the three-point play after drawing a foul.
The Cougars would roar back, however. Over the next minute and a half, CSU scored nine unanswered to retake a 45-39 lead.
Arben Camaj heated up scoring the run's first five points, including hitting a momentum changing three-pointer.
With 14:25 to go in the game, Damien Leonard made a three-pointer for GSW to cut the Cougar lead down to just two (48-46). Following a timeout, CSU would answer though as
Brent Jackson nailed a three of his own to push the lead out by five.
Both teams cooled off over the next few minutes. In a nearly a 10-minute span, the two teams combined to hit just four field goals. During that time however, CSU grew its lead out to 10 (60-50).
Things became interesting just after the six minute to go mark. Gunjina was called for a foul and was given a technical before the GSW bench was called for two more technical fouls. CSU would shoot eight straight free throws, making six, to stretch its lead out to 16 (66-50) and ice the game away.
Columbus State had four players in double figures led by Baker's 18. The senior was again passing the ball well picking up seven assists. Camaj scored a season-high 16 points after a 7-for-11 shooting performance. Taylor and Daniel had 14 and 11 points, respectively.
As a team, CSU shot 50.9 percent (28-for-55), but just 29.4 percent (5-for-17) from three. The Cougars also collected eight steals.
For the Hurricanes, Gunjina scored a team-high 15 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Thoseby had 13 points while Chandler Thomas added 10.
GSW shot 40 percent (20-for-50) while going 7-for-22 from three (31.8 percent). In the previous meeting this season, the Hurricanes made 17 three-pointers.
Columbus State will return home for a midweek matchup against Clayton State on February 3. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. inside the Lumpkin Center.
