Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College men's basketball team hosted the Lyon College Scots in an AMC matchup. The Cougars dug in and came out with a 57-52 win. Columbia is now 15-13 on the season and 10-11 in conference play.
It was a bit of a quiet start from both sides as neither team could get on the board in the first two and a half minutes. A pair of Cougar free throws would get things going. Columbia took the early 5-2 lead and rattled the Scots to cause a turnover. About eight minutes in the Cougars were up 7-4, but over the next few possessions Lyon took the lead 8-7. Braden Wendel connected with Steven Holloway who hit a three from the corner to take the lead right back. The game stayed tight throughout the half as Columbia trailed by just two with six minutes to play before the break. Lyon bumped up their lead 21-15, while the Cougars had been scoreless for a while. At the half, Columbia trailed 23-17. The Cougars were shooting 78 percent from the line.
Columbia was in need of an energy boost as the second half was in action and the Scots had gone on a 5-0 run in the first two and a half minutes. Almost four minutes had gone by and the Cougars were finally able to get a bucket. Columbia cut the deficit to eight, 32-24, grabbing two more quick buckets and began applying some extra pressure to the Scots. The Cougars kept chipping away and Lyon wanted a timeout around the 13 minute mark. Columbia got it down to three points, 36-33, as the game was being played at a slow pace. With the Cougars lingering around, the Scots called for another timeout. Out of the timeout, Jaylen Johnson came up with a big block and the Cougars were able to convert on the other end to trail by one. With six minutes to go, Lyon was up 40-39. Darrick Ellis snagged an offensive board and was able to go back up with it to take the lead 41-40. Sensing a momentum swing, the Scots took a quick timeout with 4:45 on the clock, Columbia up 43-42. Justin Shaw knocked down from deep to take a four point lead, but Lyon quickly cut it back to two. Another huge offensive rebound and put back from Ellis sent him to the line to complete the 'and-one' putting the Cougars up 51-46 with two and a half minutes left. Columbia wanted a timeout as the Scots cut their lead back to one, 51-50, under two to play. The Cougars got a big stop on defense with a minute to play and up by three. 30 seconds until the final buzzer and Lyon called time, still trailing by three. Following the timeout, Columbia's defense was locked in and Shaw came up with a steal that resulted in a dunk on the other end to take a five point lead. The Scots were forced to foul and the Cougars took care of business at the line to lock up a 57-52 win.
Justin Shaw led with 19 points, going 3-6 from three, and had two rebounds and three assists, while Darrick Ellis had a career-high 15 points along with five boards. Adam Mennemeyer and Thibault Benabid also each grabbed five rebounds. The Cougars finished shooting 43 percent from the field and 86 from the charity stripe.
The men's basketball team heads to St. Louis, Missouri on Thursday, February 21st to take on the third ranked Missouri Baptist University Spartans in an AMC contest. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m.
