Fulton, Mo. – Tonight the sixth ranked Columbia College men's basketball team was back in action when they traveled to Fulton, Missouri, to take on the 19^th ranked William Woods (Mo.) University Owls in an AMC matchup. The Cougars were able to defeat the Owls by a final score of 71-64 and improved to 18-1 on the season and 11-0 in conference play. With the loss, William Woods drops to 13-6 on the season.

During the game, the American Midwest Conference announced its men's and women's basketball players of the week. For his efforts this past week, Columbia College point guard Jackson Dubinski was named this week's AMC Player of the Week. Dubinski, a 6-1 junior guard from Columbia, Missouri, helped lead the Cougars to a home win over 25^th ranked Park University on Thursday night. In the Cougars 89-73 win, Dubinski scored 17 points and added seven rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. He made 6-of-13 shots in the game, including 3-of-6 from deep, and helped keep the Cougars unbeaten in AMC play.

In tonight's game, the Cougars came out in the first half and had a tough time finding the basket. They started out the game going 2-10 from the field and allowed the Owls to jump out to an early 5-2 lead in the contest. Despite having a tough time offensively, Columbia College was able to play solid defense for the first part of the half and forced William Woods to turn the ball over five times in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Columbia College continued to have trouble shooting the ball down the stretch of the first half and were unable to make a run at the Owls. William Woods did a good job of forcing the Cougars to take tough shots and held the Columbia to just over 34 percent shooting in the half. They were able to hold off Columbia College for the remainder of the period and took a 31-29 lead into the halftime break. The Cougars were led by Nathan Biggs who finished the half with 14 points.

In the second half of the game, the Cougars came out of the locker room looking to push the tempo against the Owls. However, William Woods did a great job of slowing down Columbia and were able to go on a 5-2 run to start the half and take a five point lead with just over 17 minutes remaining in the game. Despite a tough start to the half, the Cougars were able to respond quickly to the Owls run and knocked down two straight three point shots to get back into the game.

Columbia College was finally able to take the lead with just over 14 minutes left in the game when Malik Ray converted on his layup opportunity under the basket to give the Cougars a 39-38 lead. The lead did not last long as the Owls were able to respond quickly and tied the game at 41, but that was as close as they would get as the Cougar went on a 6-2 run midway through the half to take a four point lead in the game. William Woods did their best to get back into the contest but Columbia College was too much to handle down the final stretch and the Cougars were able to pick up their 12^th straight win.

Columbia College had three players finish in double figures including Nathan Biggs who finished with a season high 18 points. In addition to Biggs, Jackson Dubinski added 15 points and Travis Vogt finished with 10 points to round out the top performers for the Cougars.

The Cougars are back in action on Thursday, January 19^th when they play host to Central Baptist (Ark.) College in an AMC matchup. The game is set to tip-off at 7:30 p,m. in the Southwell Athletic Complex.