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MILLEGDEVILLE, Ga. - The Columbus State University men's basketball team fell for the third straight time on the road as Georgia College picked up the 67-62 victory Wednesday night.
Xavier Williams had his best performance of the season putting up 17 points to go along with 13 rebounds for his first double-double this year. Landrius Horton and Stanley Taylor each put up 16 points but scoring elsewhere was at a premium as the rest of the team combined for just 13 points.
"This was definitely one we let get away from us but credit to the Bobcats for pushing hard in the second half," head coach Robert Moore said. "We've let some big leads slip away this season and in as tough a conference as we're in we can't afford to let that happen."
The Cougars got off to a hot start fueled by a defense that has been on fire in each of the first halves during this three-game road stand. The Bobcats scored just 23 points and turned the ball over nine times in the first 20 minutes of action. At one point the Cougars opened up a 19-point advantage dominating Georgia College on both ends of the court. But the Bobcats finished the first half on a 16-8 run to get the deficit down to 11 heading into the halftime break.
With 13 minutes remaining Taylor went strong to the hoop and finished a layup while getting fouled to extend the Cougar lead back up to nine. But that's when the Bobcats made their push, going on a 13-3 run over the next 5:30 minutes to take their first lead of the game at 49-48.
CSU came right back as Chris Horton hit back-to-back three-pointers and two free throws from Williams gave the Cougars the 57-55 lead with 3:45 left. But that would be the last time Columbus State would see themselves in front as the Bobcats caught fire from deep to finish the game. Their final four made shots to end the contest were all three-pointers as they finished the game on a 12-5 run.
Outside of the top three scorers for the Cougars tonight, the rest of the team shot just 5-for-21 from the field. Columbus State as a whole shot 41.7 percent (25-for-60) from the field and 6-of-21 from behind the arc.
Columbus State will head back to the Lumpkin Center this Saturday to take on Young Harris. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
