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By: Josh Fuller

COLUMBUS – Despite a slow start, the Columbus State University men's basketball team closed out its home portion of the regular season schedule with an 89-75 victory over North Georgia Saturday. The Peach Belt Conference game took place inside the Lumpkin Center.

With the win, the Cougars held on to the top spot in the PBC West as well as keeping pace for the PBC regular season title. Montevallo and Young Harris also won Saturday and both remain tied with CSU for the PBC West lead and the PBC title. Lander, who was tied for the PBC title, lost on Saturday falling a full game behind the trio from the west.

"We didn't get off to the start that we wanted to, but we found our gear midway through the first half and I was pleased with the effort from there," stated head coach Robert Moore. "We need to play with that intensity for the whole 40 minutes and stop taking periods of the game off."

Columbus State (19-6, 13-5 PBC) came out of the gates very cold, going 2-for-17 from the floor over the first eight minutes and 20 seconds. However, North Georgia was only able to build a 14-5 advantage.

Brent Jackson finally broke the dry spell with a three-pointer, which helped spark a 10-3 Cougar run that brought the deficit down to 17-15. The Nighthawks answered back though with back-to-back threes of their own to go back in front 23-15 with 7:41 left in the half.

North Georgia (6-21, 4-14) held a 30-21 lead with 4:35 to play until halftime before the Cougars ran off seven quick points to make it just a two-point game. Baker had two acrobatic layups in the run while JaCori Payne nailed a three.

Heading into the final minute of the half, UNG built up the lead back to five, but a three by Jackson and a pair of free throws by Arben Camaj with under two seconds to go sent the game to the break tied.

Coming out of the locker rooms, Camaj scored the opening bucket of the half to give CSU its first lead since the opening minute of the game. The two sides would exchange buckets over the next few possessions until the Cougars scored eight of the next nine points to go in front 50-42 with 16:02 on the clock. The highlight of the run was a monster slam by Jackson over three Nighthawk defenders.

North Georgia got back within six on a T.J. Williams jumper with 13:12 to go, but the Cougars answered right back with a three ball from Darren Daniel to stop all momentum. The Cougar lead reached double digits for the first time on the night following a pair of Payne free throws.

Columbus State's lead would hover around the 10-point mark for the remainder of the game. CSU went ahead by a game-high 15 points (88-73) after Markis Boyd went 2-for-2 from the free throw line in the closing minutes.

CSU spread the ball around well on Saturday as 10 different players scored at least one point. Baker led the way for the Cougars with 19 points with Jackson right behind him with 17. Camaj finished with 12 and Brentine Taylor added 11. DeMarcus McVay was one point shy of a double-double as he finished the night with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

As a team, Columbus State shot 44.9 percent (31-for-69) and 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from three. From the free throw line, the Cougars went 20-for-31 (64.5 percent).

Sean Brennan scored a game-high 24 points for North Georgia. Ebo Smith added 18 while Michael Varrichione had 10 rebounds for the Nighthawks.

The Nighthawks shot 40.6 percent (26-for-64), but just 26.9 percent (7-for-26) from three.

Columbus State will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 24 with a road game against Clayton State. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Morrow, Ga. With a win, the Cougars will clinch at least a share of the PBC regular season title for the first time since the 2005-06 season.