Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College men's basketball team was back in action tonight when they took on the Park (Mo.) University Pirates in an AMC matchup. The Cougars, who were coming off a 67-56 win over Lyon (Ark.) College on Saturday, were defeated by the Pirates by a final score of 79-67 to fall to 8-7 on the season and 4-5 in conference play.
Columbia College came out in the first half and jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. The Pirates responded by going on a 6-0 run and held an 8-5 lead with just over 16 minutes to play in the half. The Cougars battled back over the next few minutes of the game and were able to go on a 23-8 run of their own to take a 28-16 advantage midway through the period. Columbia College continued to play well on both ends of the court as the half progressed and held a 14 point advantage with four minutes to play before the break. Despite being down, the Pirates picked up the tempo over the final minutes and were able to cut the Cougars lead to 35-29 at halftime. Adam Mennemeyer had a team high seven points in the period.
In the second half of the game, the Pirates came out and cut the lead to three in the first minute of the period. They continued to shoot the ball well over the next few minutes and were able to take their first lead of the game since the 14 minute mark of the first half. The Cougars had a tough time finding the basket over the next few minutes and the Pirates were able to extend their lead to seven with 12:30 left to play in the game. Columbia continued to struggle scoring the ball as the half progressed and found themselves down 11 midway through the period. Park extended their lead to 15 over the next few minutes of the game and never let the Cougars back into the contest as they handed Columbia their seventh loss of the season.
Desmond Funches led the way for Columbia as he finished with a team high 17 points in the contest. To go along with Funches, Adam Mennemeyer finished with 11 points and Thibault Benabid added a team high nine rebounds to round out the top performers for the Cougars.
The men's basketball team is back in action on Thursday, January 10th when they play host to the fifth ranked Missouri Baptist University Spartans in an AMC matchup. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. in the Southwell Athletic Complex.
