Columbus State basketball teams play for Peach Belt championships
Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
Both Columbus State basketball teams know exactly what they need to do tonight to win Peach Belt Conference championships -- win. Neither needs any help from another team.
But it won't be easy for either team as they play on the road at Clayton State.
The Lady Cougars are tied with Clayton State for the top spot in the Western Division at 15-3. They are tied for the overall conference lead with Lander, which hosts Georgia College.
With a win over Clayton State, the Lady Cougars would claim at least a share of the overall title, no matter what Lander does. The PBC does not break ties for the regular-season championship.
For CSU, it would be its sixth regular-season title and second straight.
"We laid out our goals for this season at the beginning of the year," CSU coach Jonathan Norton said. "The first of those was to win a regular season championship, and we have a chance to do that on Wednesday night.
"Clayton State is a great team, and we know it will be a great atmosphere. We're going to need to play well in all facets if we want to win."
As one of the top two seeds in the division, CSU is already assured of hosting a game in the first round of the PBC tournament on Sunday at 2 p.m. If the winner of the West wins its first-round game, then it serves as the host for semifinals and finals for both the men and the women.
The Lady Cougars won the earlier meeting with Clayton State 73-64. That win allowed CSU to catch Clayton State in the standings.
Michelle Mitchell paced CSU with 18 points.
Meanwhile, the Cougars can win its first regular-season crown since 2006.
They are tied with Montevallo and Young Harris at 13-5 for the Western Division lead as well as the overall lead. CSU can finish no worse than second in the division.
Montevallo and Young Harris play each other today, so CSU will finish in a two-way tie win or lose. And they hold the tiebreaker over both: by virtue of sweep against Young Harris and a better division record over Montevallo.
"We know what we need to do and it's simple," Cougars coach Robert Moore said. "We have to go in there, play a complete 40-minute game and come home with a win. Clayton State is a well-coached team and they are going to do everything possible to play spoilers on their
home court."
CSU has won three straight, the last being an 89-75 victory over North Georgia.
"We didn't play a complete game last Saturday and that is frustrating," Moore said. "We don't have the luxury now of taking plays off and we have to execute at all times."
CSU won the earlier meeting with Clayton State, 88-86, as Cam Baker scored with 1.3 seconds remaining.
Kevin Price, 706-320-4493, Follow Kevin on Twitter @lesports
This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Columbus State basketball teams play for Peach Belt championships ."