Cottonmouths lose in overtime at Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. -- Columbus got the point it needed to clinch a finish of no worse than second place in the SPHL, but it didn't come the way the Cottonmouths wanted.

The Snakes fell 3-2 in overtime at Louisiana on Thursday night. The one point for an overtime loss gives the Snakes 70 points, four ahead of Mississippi and Pensacola. With two games to play, those teams could catch Columbus, but the Snakes own the tiebreaker over both.

The Snakes now trail first-place Peoria by three points. To pass the Rivermen, the Snakes must win their last two games against Huntsville while Peoria loses both at Mississippi.

Shawn Bates scored both of Columbus' goals on Thursday. The first one came at 8:09 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. The second came in 18:20 of the third period to tie the game at 2.

Jake Hauswirth scored at 2:13 of overtime for Louisiana.

Andrew Loewen took the loss for Columbus.

The Snakes host Huntsville on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Cottonmouths lose in overtime at Louisiana."