Columbia, Mo. – The fifth ranked Columbia College men's basketball team was back in action when they hosted the Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.) Lynx in the AMC Game of the Week. The Cougars were able to defeat the Lynx by a final score of 92-82 and improved to 22-2 on the season and 15-1 in conference play.

Columbia College got off to a great start in the game as they forced the Lynx to take tough shots and jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the half. However, the lead did not last long as the Lynx responded to the Cougars run with a 13-7 run of their own to cut Columbia's lead to 15-13 with just under 14 minutes remaining in the period.

Following the run by the Lynx, the Cougars looked to push the tempo on the offensive end. They did a great job of moving the ball and finding open teammates on the perimeter as they started the game knocking down nine of their first 11 three pointers and held an eight point lead with five minutes left in the half. Despite playing well on offense, Columbia College struggled to stop Lindenwood-Belleville on the defensive end. The Lynx took advantage of their opportunities down the final stretch of the half and were able to tie the game at 40 entering the halftime break. The Cougars were led by Jackson Dubinski who had 12 points in the half.

Columbia College came out in the second half and played with a lot of energy. Hank Mathews got the offense rolling by knocking down a deep three pointer on one end and Malik Ray had a monstrous block on the defensive end to help swing the momentum in the Cougars favor. Columbia took advantage of the momentum swing and were able to increase their lead to eight with 16 minutes remaining in the game.

The Lynx battled back over the next few minutes of the game and took a 65-64 lead midway through the half. However, the lead did not last long for Lindenwood-Belleville as the Cougars came storming back in the contest. With the game tied at 74, Columbia College was able to end the game on an 18-8 run to solidify their victory over the Lynx.

The Cougars were led by Malik Ray who finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks, and a couple steals for his third double-double of the season. In addition to Ray, Jackson Dubinski had a career high 24 points, Nic Reynolds finished with 19 points, and Preston Whitfield added 11 points to round out the top performers for Columbia.

The Cougars are back in action on Saturday, February 4^th when they travel to Hannibal, Missouri, to take on Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) University in an AMC matchup. Columbia defeated the Trojans in their last matchup by a final score of 80-59 in a game that Jackson Dubinski had a 23 points. The game is set to start at 3 p.m.