COLUMBUS – The No. 20 Columbus State Cougars (16-3, 7-2 PBC) traveled to Americus, GA Wednesday night for a PBC match up against the Hurricanes of Georgia Southwestern State University (8-11, 2-7 PBC). CSU battled hard to leave Americus with a 78-75 win over the Hurricanes.  

First Half 

Roman Son starts the scoring for the Cougars after being fouled in the paint. Three minutes into the game, Jehloni James sunk a three pointer to get the Cougars ahead 7-0. With the clock at 16 minutes, GSW finally got points on the board and were looking for more when James denied a possible dunk with a block. Jordan Mitchell came into the game at the 41:21 mark, and within a minute scored three t increase their lead to 13-3.  

With less than 10 minutes in the half, Hunter Harp made a job shot assisted by Son for a 10-point lead over the Hurricanes. After a time out, the Cougars had possession of the ball when Jarrett Adderton got fouled after making a deep three pointer. GSW scored two points to lessen the gap until Kordell Brown floated for a jump shot that made the score 26-13 with about six minutes left in the half. GSW was able to advance down the court and score three making the score a difference by eight. While Adderton ended the scoring for the Cougars at 1:40 left, GSW picked up four more points before the teams headed to the locker room. The Cougars led at half with a score of 35-28.  

Second Half 

Columbus State had the ball for the start of the second half when Adderton was instantly fouled but made both of his free throws for an easy two points. With the score at 41-32, GSW turned over the ball for Adderton to steal and assist in Brown's layup. The Hurricanes start catching up with CSU with 14:44 to go and the score at 47-42. With the shock clock running down and GSW holding a tight, Adderton found a break in the Hurricanes' defense to shoot from three to increase their lead to 56-48. There was less than 10 minutes left in the game, and it was a four-point game with the Cougars barely ahead. 

The Hurricanes were behind by five when Jordan Mitchell made a defensive rebound and sent the ball up the court to Wisdom Uboh to make a layup sending the score up to 64-57. With less than five minutes left in the game, GSW sunk a three pointer to make it a three-point game. Just inside three minutes left, Uboh was able to fight through a sea of white to make a layup to change the scoreboard to 70-65. With exactly one minute left in the game, Uboh was fouled to make both free throws. The score was 74-70, James made an important deflection for Uboh to steal and was fouled against. The final six seconds of the game, the Hurricanes fouled Adderton, which helped him close out the game for CSU to escape with a 78-75 win.  

In the Numbers  

• CSU head back home with a 78-75 win, scoring 51.1% (24-of-47) in field goals, 36.4% (4-of-11) in three pointers, and 76.5% (26-of-34) in free throws.  

• Uboh carried the Cougars scoring 24 points (6-of-8), four assists and made a perfect 100% (12-of-12) in free throws.  

• Adderton and Brown both scored 17 points in the game, with Adderton also making all his seven free throws of the night.  

• The Cougars made the most of the Hurricane's turnovers by scoring 20 points from their mistakes while also making eight steals.  

• Columbus State had a total of 28 rebounds for the night six being offensive and 22 defensive rebounds.  

Up Next 

• The Cougars head back home to Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center to host the Nighthawks of North Georgia starting at 3:30 p.m. ET.