COLUMBUS – No. 7-ranked Columbus State men's basketball has concluded the historic 2024-25 regular season with an emphatic Senior Day finish on Sunday afternoon in the Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center.
The Cougars (25-3, 16-2 PBC) defeated the Bobcats (9-19, 4-14 PBC) with an 87-73 victory on the home hardwood to move to a nine-game winning streak and to earn their most conference wins in a season since the 2005-06 campaign.
First Half
Jehloni James opened the scoring 30 seconds in with a deep-range three with the assist from
Jarrett Adderton. After a quick 3-0 lead, CSU slipped and was knocked back with a 17-5 run from the Bobcats that covered the next five minutes. GCSU went 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three in the run to lead 17-8.
A trey from
Harp Hunter was the first bucket of a 16-7 run for the Cougars. CSU found seven buckets from the floor including two from beyond-the-arc to level the game at 24-apiece with 6:11 on the clock.
Jordan Mitchell led the way with five points followed by four from James.
After a dunk from James at the 5:54 mark, it took all the final time remaining for the Cougars to produce a 10-4 stretch to close the half with a 34-28 advantage. Individually, James led with 14 points in the half followed by six from Adderton and Mitchell's five. CSU finished the half shooting for 39.5% from the field while GCSU shot for 45.5%. Both teams knocked down four three-pointers as well.
Second Half
The first few minutes resulted in a tightly contested battle for the half as CSU edged out GCSU in a 16-14 opening stretch of play.
Wisdom Uboh lit up with 11 points, nine of which came from three-point distance, capping the run with back-to-back treys to help spark life into the CSU faithful for a 50-42 lead.
Georgia College managed to pull the deficit down to three points with 10:10 remaining, going on a 9-4 run for a 54-51 CSU advantage. Columbus State and Georgia College battled it out yet again for a 15-13 CSU stretch of play led by four points from
Joshua Guilford and three from
Masiah Jones, Hunter, and Uboh. At the end of the run, GCSU knocked down a huge trey to cut the deficit to 69-54 with just over five minutes to play.
Fortunately for the Cougars, they would surge in the final five minutes of action with an 18-9 stretch of play, shooting 6-of-9 from the field with six points coming from Uboh. CSU closed the half and sealed the game shut with the 87-73 victory as
Jackson Harris hit a buzzer beater to add the cherry on top. CSU outscored GCSU 53-45 in the half while shooting for 50% from the field, 44.4% from three, and 91.7% from the foul line.
Inside the Numbers
- CSU shot for 44.4% (32-of-72) from the field, 37.5% (12-of-32) from three, and 73.3% (11-of-15) from the foul line.
- Uboh led the scoring efforts with 22 points and tallied a team-leading six assists as well.
- Adderton finished with 15 points, four steals, and three assists.
- James totaled 14 points and eight rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.
- GCSU led 35-31 in total rebounding.
- The CSU defense produced 12 steals on 20 turnovers, scoring 34 points off the Bobcats' miscues.
Next Up
- Columbus State will begin prepping for the PBC Tournament Quarterfinals on Wednesday night against Georgia Southwestern.
