CSU men hope to ride momentum, balance into PBC tourney
The Lumpkin Center will see a postseason basketball doubleheader on Saturday.
The Columbus State men’s and women’s teams will host USC-Aiken in the first round of the Peach Belt tournament. The men will play at 3:30 p.m.
It may read like a regular-season doubleheader against an opponent, but it’s not. The Cougars men’s team finished with the second seed in the West, paired in the bracket against the third-place East Division team, also USC-Aiken.
Regardless of the outcome, Saturday will mark the final PBC home games of the season at CSU. The final four teams in each bracket will play the semifinals and championship game at the home court of the highest remaining Eastern Division women’s seed.
The CSU men took two must-win games over the past week, winning on the road at North Georgia on Saturday and then closing out the regular season with a home win against Georgia Southwestern on Wednesday.
“I just knew anything could happen,” said Cougars head coach Robert Moore. “I told our guys take care of business, win the games we needed to win, and we controlled our own destiny. We told our guys stay focused, and I thought they did a great job of that.”
Saturday’s game was huge in particular as CSU beat then-Western Division leading North Georgia on the road 88-82. Prior to that game, the Cougars had only won twice in their past nine games away from Columbus.
“It was huge for our state of mind and our program,” Moore said. “We told our guys, ‘our tournament starts now. We can’t lose a game from here out.’ We called it ‘survive and advance.’ We got down by six but didn’t panic. It also helped that JaCori Payne had 34. We did a great job fighting through it.”
After the victory Saturday, the Cougars returned home and closed out the regular season with an 88-75 victory over a struggling Georgia Southwestern team, headed up by first-year coach and former CSU assistant Ben Hicks. The game saw CSU trail by as many as 15 early, however.
“His team has through a lot of adversity,” Moore said of GSW. “We got down big early, called timeout, and said don’t panic and to create some offense. We were down by only four at the half and felt pretty good about it. Coach Hicks’ team ran out of gas at the end. We hit some shots and took care of business.”
The game was also significant in that every CSU starter scored in double figures.
“Ryan Burnett played his best game all year against Georgia Southwestern and made five 3s,” Moore said. “Arben Camaj has been a great addition to this program with his leadership on and off the court. He takes care of business, and he’s loved around the campus. Those two guys will take us a long way. We’re looking for them, JaCori, Marcus Dixon, and Darius Joell to carry us. We’ve got some guys off the bench who can help, but those five guys need to play really well for us to advance in the tournament.”
CSU had one of its worst games of the season at USC-Aiken on Jan. 7, allowing season-high 106 points in a 106-86 loss.
“We struggled against them on the road, but we weren’t playing our best basketball at the time,” Moore said. “We just have to survive and advance one play at a time.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 9:41 PM with the headline "CSU men hope to ride momentum, balance into PBC tourney."