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COLUMBUS - The Columbus State University men's basketball team fell to Augusta 65-52 as the Jaguars pulled away late inside the Lumpkin Center.
Junior Jalen Thomas led the Cougars in scoring with 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. Xavier Williams was the only other Cougar in double figures as he stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, five block and four rebounds. Junior Landruis Horton added nine points and five rebounds before having to leave the game with just over 12 minutes remaining.
"We have to take tonight as a learning experience and move on," stated head coach Robert Moore. "Our offense wasn't there from the tip tonight and we knew it was going to be hard to score points against Augusta because they are well coached. We have to go back to the drawing board this week and get ready to rebound against a hungry Georgia Southwestern team."
It was a back and forth affair throughout the first half as the two teams tied and traded the lead a combined ten times. CSU took their largest lead of the game into the halftime break as Williams and Thomas ended the half with two free throws apiece to make it 24-20.
For the first seven minutes of the second half the Cougars maintained a slim lead until Augusta grabbed an offensive rebound and finished a layup down low to take a 34-33 lead. After Stanley Taylor hit a three-pointer to bring the Cougars back within two with just over ten minutes remaining, the Jaguars promptly went on a 16-2 run to bust open a double digit lead.
With 4:31 left in the game the Cougars got a couple of stops defensively but couldn't quite find their rhythm on offense to get back into the game. The 52 total points ended up being the lowest total for CSU this season, and the lowest since February 2, 2013.
The Cougars shot 33.3 percent (17-for-51) from the field and went just 3-of-19 from the 3-point line.
Columbus State will be back in action Wednesday, Jan. 16th as they take on Georgia Southwestern in the Lumpkin Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
