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FLORENCE, S.C. - The Columbus State University men's basketball team dropped a Peach Belt Conference contest on the road Saturday afternoon as Francis Marion came away with a 76-60 win.

Landrius Horton led the way for the Cougars as the only double figure scorer finishing with 28 points to go along with 13 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. 

The Cougars went into the halftime break all tied up but the Patriots came out firing in the second half to drop Columbus State to 7-8 (3-7) on the season. All five Francis Marion starters finished in double figures as the Cougar defense, which sits atop the conference in guarding the arc, gave up ten three-pointers to FMU. 

"Our lack of depth really showed tonight as we didn't get much help from the bench," head coach Robert Moore said. "We crashed the glass hard, beat them in the paint, but couldn't quite get stops when we needed them most."

Francis Marion took a five point lead with 3:32 left in the first half but the Cougar defense stepped up shutting them out the rest of the half. CSU capped it on in exhilarating fashion as Horton grabbed a rebound and launched a 70-footer at the buzzer that went in to tie the game at 34 apiece. 

Columbus State took a 41-38 lead off a Horton layup thanks to an assist from Bryant Givens, who finished with nine assists. But Francis Marion clamped down and went on a 14-4 run to go up by seven. 

Givens got the Cougars back in it with three more assists leading to easy finishes at the rim but the Patriots proceeded to go on a 10-0 run to break the game open. The Cougars finished with just six points off the bench, all from junior Stanley Taylor. 

Columbus State shot 38.7 percent (24-for-62) from the field and 5-of-20 from behind the arc.

Columbus State finishes their road trip at Milledgeville, Ga. as they'll take on Georgia College this Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.