Columbus State basketball teams look to continue hot starts

Both Columbus State basketball teams have a chance to start the Peach Belt Conference portion of their schedule with a 2-0 start.

The Cougars and Lady Cougars both beat UNC Pembroke on Thursday night. Today, they host USC Aiken with the women tipping off at 1:30 p.m. with the men slated for 3:30 p.m. The games will be played at the Lumpkin Center and be broadcast on WDAK-AM 540.

For the Cougars, they are looking to continue their hot start. They are 7-1 after the 82-69 victory over Pembroke.

With the exception of last week's loss to Lane, the Cougars have been explosive on offense. They are 16th in scoring in the nation at 90.5 points per game and 18th in field-goal percentage at 50.4 -- they were No. 1 before the loss to Lane.

CSU shot 50 percent from 3-point range Thursday, making 12 of 24 shots.

"We were making the extra effort to find the open guy last night," CSU coach Robert Moore said. "When you make that extra pass, guys become open and it makes that shot much easier."

The Cougars have five playing averaging in double figures with Cam Baker leading the way with 18 points a game, followed by Brent Jackson (15.8), Brentine Taylor (12.8), JaCori Payne (12.5) and DeMar

cus McVay (11.6).

Aiken lost its PBC opener on Thursday, falling 66-55 at Georgia College. The loss dropped the Pacers to 2-6.

"USC Aiken's record might not look like something special, but they are still a very talented team," Moore said. "We can't overlook someone just because of their record. The guys have to be ready to play or it's easy to be knocked off in this league."

Keith Belfield leads the Pacers, scoring 19 points per game.

Meanwhile, the Lady Cougars (6-1) are looking for their fourth straight win overall and 21st straight home win. The program record is 26.

In what coach Jonathan Norton called a "weird" game, CSU beat Pembroke 60-45.

The 15th-ranked Lady Cougars looked rusty shooting just 36.5 percent from the floor (23-for-63).

"It wasn't the prettiest win, but we did what we had to do," Norton said. "Give credit to Pembroke, they slowed us down, but we have to be better when we have an open shot."

Michelle Mitchell scored 20 points in the game to lead CSU. She is averaging 20.1 per game, which is just one-10th from the top in the conference.

Aiken lost 56-54 to Georgia College to fall to 5-5 overall.

"USC Aiken is one of the best coached teams in the league," Norton said.

"They had one bad quarter and lost by just two against a very good Georgia College team on the road.

"We will have our hands full."

Kevin Price, 706-320-4493, Follow Kevin on Twitter @lesports

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Columbus State basketball teams look to continue hot starts ."