Cougars win over Georgia Southwestern nets share of PBC West title
COLUMBUS – The Columbus State University men’s basketball team played its best second half of the year when it needed it most as the Cougars defeated Georgia Southwestern 88-75 Wednesday in the season finale. The Peach Belt Conference game took place inside the Lumpkin Center.
With the win, the Cougars clinched a share of the PBC West Division title for the second consecutive season. The west finished in a five-way tie with CSU, Clayton State, Montevallo, North Georgia and Young Harris with 11-8 conference marks.
After all the tiebreakers, the Cougars (18-8, 11-8 PBC) will be the second seed in the PBC Tournament and will host USC Aiken at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Give the guys credit tonight, because we got in a deep hole and had to play our best ball to win it,” said head coach Robert Moore. “We really clicked on both sides of the court in the second half and forced Georgia Southwestern into mistakes.
“I’m proud of how the regular season played out, but the real season begins Saturday, and I’m thrilled that we get a game on our home floor.”
It took both sides a while to settle into the game as the Cougars held a 5-4 lead at the 16:45 mark after Darius Joell hit a 3. However, things fell apart for the Cougars from there.
Over the next five and a half minutes, Georgia Southwestern (7-19, 5-14) went on an 18-3 run to build a 22-8 lead. The Hurricanes were perfect from then field during the spurt, 7-for-7, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
The lead was still at 35-23 with under five in the half until the Cougars finally got their offense going. In the final three minutes of the half, CSU outscored Georgia Southwestern 10-2 to make it a 37-33 game at the break. JaCori Payne had four points, including hitting a shot at the buzzer.
The Cougars scored the first six points of the second half to take a 39-37 lead. Ryan Burnett started an amazing second half with a 3, and a dunk from Marcus Dixon put the Cougars in front for the first time since the 17:12 mark in the first half.
The two sides exchanged buckets until a dominant stretch by the Cougars. With the Hurricanes up 53-50, Arben Camaj hit a jumper that begin a 7-0 Cougars run that put CSU ahead 57-53 with 11:16 to play.
GSW remained within two after knocking down a 3-pointer from the corner. However, a 3 from Payne jumpstarted an 8-0 Cougars run that saw the lead balloon to 70-60 with under eight minutes to play.
The Cougars coasted from there. The Hurricanes pulled within five with less than five minutes to play, but the Cougars iced the game with a 10-0 spurt.
All five Cougar starters scored in double figures led by Burnett’s season-best 18 points. The graduate student was 6-for-11 from the field, including 5-for-8 from 3. Seventeen of Burnett’s 18 points came in the second half.
Joell had 17, while Payne (15), Camaj (13) and Dixon (10) were the other players in double digits. Payne added eight assists.
As a team, CSU shot 52.7 percent (29-for-55) including 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) from 3.
Georgia Southwestern shot 45.6 percent (26-for-57) overall and an even 50 percent (11-for-22) from long range.
This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Cougars win over Georgia Southwestern nets share of PBC West title."