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COLUMBUS – Basketball season officially begins on Friday, as the Columbus State University men head to Bristol, Tenn. for a pair of games.
The Cougars will open the season Friday against Lees-McRae at 5 p.m. before a date with King at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be played at King University.
Robert Moore begins his ninth season at the helm of the CSU program that was picked to finish sixth in the Peach Belt Conference preseason poll. The Cougars are coming off a 9-17 record in 2017-18, but Moore is aiming to get the Cougars back to the level from 2014-17, when CSU won at least 20 games and reached the NCAA Tournament three straight years.
Columbus State returns eight players from the 2017-18 season, including juniors
John Lambert,
Cam Paulding and
Jalen Thomas, all of which saw significant minutes last year.
DeMarcus McVay also returns for the Cougars, rejoining the team after sitting out the last two seasons.
Lees-McRae and King are both coming off strong campaigns that saw each reach the NCAA Southeast Regional. LMC was 23-9 overall, winning the Conference Carolinas Tournament championship to secure the program's first NCAA Tournament bid. Meanwhile, King posted a 19-11 mark and won the CC regular season crown. Both teams were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA regional.
King was picked as the preseason co-favorite in Conference Carolinas this season, while Lees-McRae was voted fifth. Both teams received votes in the NABC Preseason Top 25.
Columbus State will be playing the two programs for the first time this weekend. The Cougars have not played any current member of Conference Carolinas in program history. CSU's last game against a member of the league was in December of 2009 when it took on Anderson, now a member of the South Atlantic Conference.
Columbus State Hall of Fame broadcaster Scott Miller will have the call of the games on NewsRadio 540 WDAK. Live video and audio links will be available at CSUCougars.com.
