WILSON, N.C. - The Columbus State University men's basketball team opened up their campaign with an 86-73 win over Barton College on Friday night. The game took place in the Wilson Gymnasium as part of the '45 Second Classic'.
"There were a lot of positives to take from tonight," said head coach Robert Moore. "But I was most impressed with the poise our team played with in the second half. Each time Barton tried to crawl back our guys stepped up and delivered. This was a huge road win to open our season but we've got to turn our attention to finishing the job tomorrow."
Landrius Horton led all scorers with 27 points shooting 12-15 from the field while grabbing eight rebounds. Right behind him was Bryant Givens who added 19 points, eight assists and six steals.
As a team Columbus State shot 54.9 percent (39-71) from the field including seven threes.
The Cougars will conclude action in the '45 Second Classic' tomorrow taking on Mount Olive at 11 a.m.
| Play-by-Play |
| First Half |
| Barton jumped out to the early lead as they took an eight point advantage halfway through the first half. But CSU would fight back as Givens scored or assisted on 15 straight Cougar points, giving them their first lead of the night at 31-30 with 4:04 left. CSU finished the first half on a 6-0 run to take the 39-35 advantage into the halftime break. |
| Second Half |
| Seven straight points for the Cougars gave them a double-digit lead not even two minutes into the second half. They'd push it up to 14 thanks to back-to-back dunks by Givens and Cam Paulding. From there, each time Barton tried to make a run CSU would respond. The closest the Bulldogs got the rest of the way was 12 points as the Cougars kept their foot on the gas. |
| Inside the Numbers |
• Landrius Horton poured in 27 points, two points shy of tying his career-high at CSU.
• The Cougar defense forced 21 Bulldog turnovers, which tied for the most turnovers Barton had in any game last season.
• Columbus State shot just five free throws the entire game, going 1-5 from the line.
• CSU got 21 points off the bench, led by Robert Davis Jr. who went 5-8 from the field for 12 points.
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