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By: Stephen Williams

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Columbus State University men's basketball team saw its four-game winning streak come to a close on Saturday with an 88-78 loss at Georgia College. The Peach Belt Conference contest took place in the Centennial Center in Milledgeville, Ga.
 
Brent Jackson finished as CSU's leading scorer, tallying 17 points on the night. Arben Camaj added 10, while Matthias Sigurdarson matched his season-high also putting in 10 points.
 
"We could not get anything going all night long," said Cougar head coach Robert Moore. I didn't think we had a lot of energy and Georgia College was really prepared tonight and put it to us.
 
"We had an opportunity tonight to gain ground on the top of our division and we didn't take advantage of that."
 
After an opening free throw from GC, Columbus State (16-5, 10-4 PBC) scored five straight points. The Bobcats tied the game at five apiece before Brentine Taylor slammed one home to put the Cougars in front.
 
On the following possession, Georgia College (16-6, 9-5) hit its first of back-to-back threes to open up an 11-7 advantage. The Bobcats would stay in front for the remainder of the game.
 
GC raced out to an eight-point lead (21-13) near the midway point of the first half, but the Cougars answered with a 7-1 run. JaCori Payne scored the final four points of the spurt to get CSU back within two.
 
Columbus State was still down two (27-25) with under seven minutes to go before the hot-shooting Bobcats got rolling again. The GC lead reached double digits for the first time at the 3:46 mark.
 
Jackson and Sigurdarson scored the final four points of the half for CSU to pull the Cougars within six (46-40) at the halftime break.
 
Darren Daniel scored on the opening possession of the second half to cut the lead down to just four, but the Cougars would get no closer the rest of the way.
 
Georgia College's lead reached as much as 17 in the second half as the Bobcats cruised down the stretch behind their three-point shooting.
 
Columbus State shot 47.8 percent (32-of-67) from the field, but made only 4-of-16 (25 percent) three-point attempts. The Cougars outrebounded the Bobcats 44-29 in the loss.
 
GC was 51.9 percent (28-for-54) on the night and connected 11 times from outside.
 
Columbus State will now gear up for a first-place showdown on Wednesday night at Montevallo. The two teams enter the contest in a three-way tie with Young Harris for the top spot in the PBC West Division. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.