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MORROW, Ga. – A strong fight came up just short on Wednesday night, as the eighth-seeded Columbus State University men's basketball team fell 89-83 at top-seeded Clayton State. The Peach Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinal was played in Morrow.
Columbus State's season wraps up with a 9-17 overall record and a fifth straight PBC Tournament appearance.
JaCori Payne led all scorers with 28 points on Wednesday. His four-year career comes to a close with 1,347 points, the fourth-most in Columbus State history.
Rudy Winters added 17 on the CSU bench, while
Darius Joell and
Vic Ellis finished with 16 and 10, respectively.
"I can't say enough about the effort these guys put forth tonight," head coach
Robert Moore said. "It would have been really easy to just pack it in, but they came out and went right at Clayton State and gave us a chance to win this game."
Columbus State fell behind early, as the Lakers took a 15-7 edge less than six minutes into the contest. CSU stayed within striking distance though, and made its move late in the first half.
Trailing 29-23, the Cougars went on a quick 9-2 run thanks to hot outside shooting. Ellis started the spurt with a shot from distance and Winters followed with one of his own. Payne then gave CSU its first lead of the night with another triple.
Clayton State (22-5) jumped right back in front, but four straight points from Payne to close the half had the Cougars with a 41-40 lead at the break. The senior had 18 points in the first half.
Columbus State took its largest lead of the night just minutes into the second half, as a three-point play from Payne put the Cougars on top 51-44. The Lakers answered back with seven straight to tie it up and Joell had a three-point play of his own to keep CSU on top.
The Cougars' last lead of the night came at 59-57 before a 14-2 Laker run opened up a double-digit lead for Clayton State.
CSU trailed by as much as 12, but the Cougars had one last rally left. Six straight from the Cougars brought CSU back within five with less than two minutes to go, but they never were able to get the game inside of two possessions.
Columbus State shot 52.9 percent (27-for-51) from the field on Wednesday, knocking down 12-of-20 from beyond the arc.
