Box Score Springfield, Ill. - The 4^th-ranked Columbia men's basketball team clinched a share of their fourth consecutive American Midwest Conference (AMC) regular season championship with a 77-58 road win over conference opponent Benedictine University-Springfield on Thursday night. With the victory, the Cougars improve to 27-2 overall (18-1 AMC) and stretch their current win streak to a season-long 11 games. Columbia entered Thursday night's game tied atop the conference standings with Freed-Hardeman, but the Lions were upset by Williams Baptist, giving the Cougars a chance to clinch the regular season championship outright.

Columbia was able to build a double-digit lead midway through the first half with the help of a trio of three-pointers by Derrick Dilworth. The Cougars led 25-14 after a three by Wendell Crowder at the 8:18 mark, but the Bulldogs would battle back to pull within four at 31-27 with a little under three minutes to play in the frame. Columbia answered with a 7-0 run to close the period and took a 38-27 lead into the halftime break. The Cougars shot 48 percent from the field and 5 of 8 from three-point range in the opening half and were led by Dilworth with 11 points at the break.

Benedictine-Springfield cut the Columbia advantage to single digits at 44-35 early in the second period, but the Cougars quickly extended their lead out to 18 with the help of a 9-0 run over the next two and a half minutes. Columbia hit 16 of 34 attempts over the remainder of the game to earn the season sweep against the Bulldogs.

Four Cougar players finished in double figures on the night, led by Dilworth and Patric Massey with 15 points each. Crowder and Tanner Sutton finished with 13 and 11 points respectively for Columbia, who received 38 bench points and owned a 45-33 advantage on the boards.

Thursday night's victory also gave Cougar seniors Wendell Crowder and Devin Griffin their 115^th career victory at Columbia, making them the two winningest players in Cougar men's basketball history. In their four years at Columbia, the duo has combined for a record of 115-16 (.878).

The Cougars will host league foe Missouri Baptist on Saturday afternoon with a chance to clinch the outright AMC regular season championship and secure home-court advantage throughout the upcoming AMC tournament. Crowder, Dilworth, Griffin, Massey and fellow senior Gerardo Isla will be honored prior to game time at 4:00 pm at the Arena of Southwell Complex.