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By: Josh Fuller

COLUMBUS – Darren Daniel hit a go-ahead shot with 17 seconds on the clock to push the 18^th-ranked Columbus State University men's basketball team to an 83-82 victory over Georgia College Saturday. The Peach Belt Conference game took place inside the Lumpkin Center.

In a second half that saw nine lead changes and four tied scores, CSU held an 81-79 lead after Arben Camaj made two free throws that pushed the Cougars ahead.

Georgia College (11-4, 4-2 PBC) looked to have missed its chance of a comeback after Mark McCorkle missed a three-pointer and DeMarcus McVay pulled in the rebound for the Cougars. However, the Bobcats played tough defense causing a missed shot giving GC a second life.

Coming back down the court, Terrell Harris drove inside the three-point arc before dishing the ball back out to Chaz Berry, who nailed a three to put the Bobcats ahead 82-81.

Georgia College called an immediate timeout following the bucket to set up the defense. On the inbound, Darren Daniel raced down the court and calmly hit a midrange jumper at the free throw line to give CSU an 83-82 advantage.

With time running out, the Bobcats got the final shot off but it was off the rim giving CSU the come from behind victory.

"This was a great win for the team," stated CSU head coach Robert Moore. "We were down basically the whole game, but we found a way to battle for a win against a very good Georgia College team.

"Brent [Jackson] was outstanding for us. If he didn't get hot, we wouldn't have won the game."

It was all Georgia College early in the game as the Bobcats raced out to a 12-point lead (20-8) seven and a half minutes into the game. CSU scored the game's first three points and five of the first seven to go in front 5-2. From there, GC went on an 18-3 run to take the commanding advantage. McCorkle was on fire from downtown hitting three three-pointers during the run while Berry had five.

McVay made a layup to break the run before Harris hit back-to-back three pointers to make the Bobcat lead 26-10 with 10:11 on the clock. The 16-point lead was the largest lead of the game by any team.

Georgia College's lead would remain in double figures until the final second of the half when Daniel hit a three right before the buzzer to make it a 42-33 game at the break. It was the first time this season that the Cougars were down at the half.

Coming out of the half, Berry hit another three to push the lead back into double-digits for the Bobcats and the lead would remain comfortable over the next four minutes.

At the 16:19 mark, everything began clicking for the Cougars. Baker hit a three-pointer which jumped started a 13-0 run that put CSU behind by just one (53-52) with 14 minutes to play. Similar to GC's run in the first half, the Cougars hit three three's during the run with Jackson netting two.

The Bobcats were able to stave off the run for awhile until Jackson gave CSU a 58-57 lead after a layup. It was CSU's first lead since the 18:03 mark in the first half.

The final 12 minutes were hectic with the lead changing hands eight times.

Columbus State (11-2, 5-1) got a pair of free throws from Baker that made it a 62-61 game, but the three ball was once again the enemy with Dwight Anderson knocking one in to push the Bobcats back in front at 64-62.

A McVay layup tied the game before the Bobcats got six straight points from the free throw line to make it a six-point game (70-64) with a little under eight minutes to go.

Still down six, Jackson and the Cougars started to get hot from downtown. Jackson cut the lead in half with a trifecta, and after two more free throws by GC, JaCori Payne knocked down a three in the corner to make it a 74-72 game.

The Bobcats got a jumper on the following possession before Jackson nailed back-to-back three's to give the Cougars a 78-76 lead with 3:25 to play.

GC kept knocking down free throws to keep itself in the game setting up the final minutes.

Jackson scored a game-high 27 points after going 9-for-13 from the floor, including a 5-for-7 mark from three. The senior also had eight rebounds. Baker had 19 points, six rebounds and four assists before fouling out. Brentine Taylor had nine points and rebounds.

As a team, the Cougars shot 48.3 percent (28-for-58) while making 9-of-20 three point attempts.

GC was led by Harris who nearly had a triple-double. The forward had 22 points with 11 rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Berry added 17 while Ryan Blumenthal and Anderson had 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Columbus State will now hit the road for the next two games. On Wednesday, Jan. 13, the Cougars take on North Georgia in Dahlonega, Ga. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.