Columbia, Mo. – Columbia College men's basketball head coach
Tyler Bredehoeft earned his 100th career victory Saturday as the Cougars defeated Mount Mercy University 78-65 at the Arena of Southwell Complex.
Columbia, who scored the first 11 points of the contest, won its third straight game to improve to 4-1. Mount Mercy fell to 2-4 as its two-game winning streak ended.
AJ Tillman scored a team-high 16 points, while
Jeff Fleming added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Drew Camacho chipped in with nine points. The Cougars shot 46.3 percent (25-54) from the field and hit 23-of-29 from the free-throw line.
Tillman scored the game's first six points as Columbia raced out to an 11-0 lead. Mount Mercy missed its first five shots and committed four turnovers during the opening run.
The Cougars stretched their lead to 20-4, holding the Mustangs to two field goals in the first 7:55. Brayson Laube scored back-to-back baskets to cut Columbia's lead to 30-18 with 4:47 left in the half.
Columbia took a 46-28 lead into halftime behind 10 points from Tillman and eight from Eskew. The Cougars shot 53.1 percent (17 of 32) from the field and outscored Mount Mercy 22-10 in the paint.
The Cougars opened the second half on a 7-0 run to extend the advantage to 53-28, and then took their largest lead of the game at 58-30 on a pair of free-throws by Fleming.
Mount Mercy got the lead down to 13 (66-53) with a 16-4 run, and but Tillman halted he run by knocking down three-straight free-throws.
Laube (16 points), Jaxson Fried (13) and Victor Brown (12) scored in double figures for Mount Mercy, who hit just 4-of-24 from three-point range in the loss.
The Cougars host Kansas Wesleyan University on Tuesday, November 10 at 7 p.m.
NOTES: Columbia leads the all-time series with Mount Mercy 3-1 … Bredehoeft has a 100-83 overall record as a collegiate head coach … The Cougars are 18-2 at home the last two seasons …
Bear Bock made his first career start and had five rebounds and four assists … Columbia's bench outscored Mount Mercy 38-15.
