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By:
Josh FullerMONTEVALLO, Ala. – With first place in the Peach Belt Conference West division on the line, Montevallo edged past the Columbus State University men's basketball team 80-75 Wednesday night. The game took place in TrustMark Arena in Montevallo, Ala.
Montevallo is now alone atop the PBC West division, a half-game ahead of Young Harris. CSU (14-6, 10-5 PBC) is now a full game behind the Falcons. YHC will play Georgia College on Thursday in Milledgeville.
"We brought way more energy tonight than last Saturday," said CSU head coach
Robert Moore. "But when we had the lead in the first half, we played sloppy and could never catch up. We have to play more in control with leads in general."
"We played hard tonight, but when you play a team like Montevallo, you can't make mistakes and that's what did us in tonight."
The game started on a high note for the Cougars as CSU scored seven of the first nine points in the game.
Arben Camaj had two buckets for the Cougars while
JaCori Payne nailed a three-pointer.
However, Terrell Lipkins single-handily kept Montevallo afloat scoring the first 10 points for the Falcons.
With a 14-10 lead five minutes in, the Cougars stepped on the gas pedal increasing their lead to nine after a
Darren Daniel layup and a
Brent Jackson three.
The Falcons were able to cut the deficit back to four (19-15) before the Cougars strung together seven straight points to go in front 26-15 with 10:30 left in the half. Camaj was once again the spark plug beginning the run with a three while Jackson and
Brentine Taylor chipped in. The 11-point lead was the largest for either side in the contest.
Montevallo didn't waste any time in erasing the margin though. The Falcons would put together a run of their own using a 10-0 spurt to pull within one of the lead (28-27) with less than six minutes until halftime.
CSU would hold on to the lead for a few more minutes until Tevin Worthy laid one in to put the Falcons up 33-31 with 3:12 to play.
The lead would change hands four times in the final three minutes with Montevallo (15-7, 11-4) taking a 39-37 lead into the locker room after a Bryant Orange three-point bucket.
Coming out of the break, Columbus State scored the first five points of the half to go back in front 42-39.
DeMarcus McVay scored the half's first bucket with Camaj again coming up big with a three.
With the game tied at 44, Montevallo tried to pull away as they scored eight unanswered points to go ahead 54-46 with 12:55 showing on the clock. Orange and Lipkins did all the damage combining for all eight points.
Montevallo's lead remained around the eight point mark for the next four minutes until the Cougars rallied. Down 59-51 under the midway mark in the half,
Demetres Abrams went 3-for-3 from the free throw line before
Cam Baker hit a fastbreak layup to pull CSU within three (59-56) of the lead.
Following the teams exchanging buckets, Baker once again closed a fastbreak attempt off with a layup making it just a one-point (65-64) game with under four minutes to play.
However, Montevallo was able to kill all the momentum pushing the lead back to 69-64 after a Lipkins three-pointer.
Columbus State got within one of the lead three times in the final minute but was unable to score a go-ahead bucket.
Four CSU players were in double figures in scoring on Wednesday led by Baker's 17. The senior was 7-for-16 from the field with five steals, four rebounds and four assists. Jackson had 15 with McVay and Camaj each adding 14. McVay was 7-for-10 from the floor with two blocks.
The Cougars shot 45.6 percent (31-for-68) from the field, but hit just seven of their 26 three-point attempts (26.9 percent). CSU only went to the free throw line nine times.
Orange and Lipkins played the entire 40 minutes for Montevallo scoring 27 and 26 points, respectively. Orange added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals on the night as well as going a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Lipkins did his damage from beyond the arc shooting 5-of-9 from three-point range. He also had a team high nine rebounds.
Montevallo shot 45.8 percent (27-for-59) while going 7-for-17 from three (41.2 percent). UM was 19-for-27 from the free throw line.
Columbus State will be back in action Saturday, Feb. 13 hosting Young Harris. Tipoff from the Lumpkin Center is set for 3:30 p.m.
