Box Score Fulton, Mo. – The sixth ranked Columbia College men's basketball team was back in action tonight when they traveled down the road to Fulton, Missouri, to take on the William Woods (Mo.) University Owls in an AMC matchup. The Cougars were defeated by the Owls by a final score of 76-56 to fall to 5-3 on the season and 2-1 in the AMC.
Columbia College came out in the first half and were able to score the first three points of the game to take an early lead. The Owls settled in over the next few minutes and went on a 10-4 run to take a 10-7 lead with just over 16 minutes to play in the half. The Owls continued to play well offensively as the half progressed and were able to extend their lead to 20-11 before the Cougars were forced to call a timeout midway through the period. The Cougars had a tough time getting anything going following the timeout and the Owls were able to push their lead to 16 with 8:50 left to play in the half. Columbia College did their best to get back into the game down the final stretch of the half but ultimately the Owls took a 46-28 lead into the halftime break. Desmond Funches had a team high seven points in the half.
The Cougars came out of the locker room and scored the first bucket of the second half before the Owls went on a 13-0 run to push their lead to 29. Columbia College tried to cut into the lead as the half progressed and were able to lower the deficit to 19 with seven minutes left to play in the game. They played tough defense on the Owls as they tried to get back into the contest but the Owls lead was too big to overcome as William Woods closed out the game down the stretch to hand the Cougars their first conference loss of the season.
Adam Mennemeyer and Desmond Funches led the way for Columbia College as they both finished with a team high 13 points. In addition, Thibault Benabid added 10 points and Justin Shaw brought down a team high rebounds to round out the top performers for the Cougars.
The men's basketball team is back in action on Saturday, December 1st when they travel to Belleville, Illinois, to take on the Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.) Lynx in an AMC matchup. The game is set to tip-off at 3 p.m.
