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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Snapping a six-game losing skid, the Columbus State University men's basketball team earned a 71-59 victory at Georgia College on Wednesday night. The Peach Belt Conference game was played in Milledgeville.
Darius Joell,
JaCori Payne and
Rudy Winters each tallied 17 points to lead the Cougars to the victory.
"I thought we played one of our better halves of basketball in the second half," head coach
Robert Moore said. "We were efficient on offense, shot the ball well and played well defensively."
Columbus State (7-15, 7-12 PBC) fell behind early as the Bobcats forced a Cougar timeout after seven straight points made it 11-5. The Cougars battled back though, going on a 12-1 run to take their largest lead of the first half at 26-21.
Marcus Dixon scored all six of his points during the spurt.
Georgia College (11-14, 7-12) would get the last laugh of the half though, scoring the final eight points to lead 29-26 at the break.
After giving up the opening basket of the second half, CSU poured in eight unanswered to surge back in front behind 3-pointers from
Vic Ellis and Payne.
With the Bobcats back ahead by one, Payne gave the Cougars the lead with three free throws and followed it with a make from outside and CSU would not relinquish the lead the rest of the night.
Payne stretched the Cougar advantage out to double digits at the six minute mark off a steal by Joell and the lead grew as wide as 16 in the closing stages of the game.
CSU shot 47.8 percent (22-of-46) as a team on Wednesday, including a 12-for-21 effort in the second half. The Cougars were 8-for-16 from the 3-point line and 19-of-24 from the charity stripe.
Columbus State will host Young Harris on Saturday in the Lumpkin Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
