Columbia, Mo. – The sixth ranked Columbia College Cougars were back in action this afternoon when they took on the Clarke (Iowa) University Pride in their final game of the 2018 Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic. The Cougars, who defeated the Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College Blue Raiders in a come from behind overtime thriller on Friday night, were unable to pick up their fourth straight win as they fell to the Pride by a final score of 79-65 to fall to 4-2 on the season.
In the first half of the game, both sides came out and exchanged baskets early. With the score tied at 11, the Pride were able to go on a 7-2 run to take an 18-13 lead in the game. However, their lead did not last long as the Cougars battled back and were able to score the next seven points to take a 20-18 lead midway through the period. The Pride responded by going on a 9-0 run of their own and held a 27-20 lead with 7:42 left to play in the first half. Columbia College picked it up defensively as the half progressed but had a tough time scoring the ball as the Pride held a 30-25 advantage late in the period. The Cougars did their best to get back into the game before the break but had a tough time cutting into the deficit as the Pride took a 37-28 lead into the locker room. Justin Shaw led all scorers with 13 points in the half.
Clarke came out in the second half and were able to extend their lead to 15 before the Cougars were forced to call a timeout. They played tough defense on Columbia College and held them scoreless for the first five minutes of the half as they extended their lead to 47-28. The Cougars were finally able to take the lid off the basket with 13:46 left to play in the game following a layup from Steven Holloway and then went on a 7-3 run to cut the deficit to 50-37. Columbia continued to push the tempo as the half progressed but the Pride seemed to stay one step ahead as they held a 63-49 lead with six minutes to play in the contest. Despite being down, the Cougars battled back and were able to cut the lead to 10 with five minutes remaining but that was as close as they would get as the Pride extended their lead back to 15 and then closed out Columbia down the stretch to hand the Cougars their second loss of the season.
Columbia was led by Justin Shaw who finished with a season and game high 18 points. To go along with Shaw, Steven Holloway finished with 17 points and Desmond Funches added 12 points to round out the top scorers for the Cougars. Thibault Benabid led Columbia with five rebounds in the game.
The men's basketball team is back in action on Tuesday, November 27th when they play host to the Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University Hornets in an AMC matchup. The game is set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. in the Southwell Athletic Complex.
