Columbus State Cougars Sports... Feb. 27

Smith’s second half play leads to huge upset

Last Wednesday, the Columbus State Cougars men’s basketball team pulled off one of the largest upsets in the OCCAC this season defeating fourth ranked Cincinnati State 72-69 in the Delaware Hall gym

Things did not look good early for the Cougars in Wednesday’s matchup. They got down by as much as 19 in the first half as the Surge was able to have their way shooting the basketball. They shot 58% from the field in the first half. The Cougars managed to climb in the game with a couple key baskets late in the first half by Columbus State’s Greg Rice.

With Columbus State down 11 at halftime, they began to chip away at Cincinnati State’s lead. With 12 minutes left in the game, no team would have a lead larger than five.

But the biggest thing was the Cougars got baskets when they needed them. Down by three, Cyrus Smith would hit a three to give Columbus State their first tie at 57 with 7:40 left. After the Surge took a three point lead, Smith did it against less than a minute later.

A big turning point came with 3:40 left in the second half when Cougar guard Brandon Bland had a steal which led to a fast break dunk to cut the Surge’s lead to 69-66. Two minutes later, after a couple missed buckets in a row by Columbus State, Cougar center Greg LeSage tipped in an offensive rebound to make it a one point game.

“It was pumping, we’re on a five game win streak and this was this was just to get us to 8-6 in conference and we’re battling back,” LeSage said.

Smith tied the game with 1:10 left by splitting a pair of free throws, and within seconds, Cincinnati State committed a turnover to give the Cougars a chance to win the game. Smith worked his second half magic by hitting two huge free throws. Columbus State made a defensive stop with just under a minute left as Mariano Bowles had a huge rebound. He made a free throw. Columbus State made their biggest defensive stop of the year when as Cincinnati State was looking for an uncontested three for the final 20 seconds of the game. The Surge attempted a three from the right point with under two seconds left, but it was off target. The Cougars held Cincinnati State to no offensive points in the final four minutes of the game. Smith had 18 of his game high 22 points in the second half.

“It was fun…We stuck together and just really got it together and just played hard and had fun,” Smith said. “It was fun, I am speechless right now.”

Arguably this was the largest win in Columbus State’s head coach Patrick Carlisle’s career. With the win, the Cougars finish OCCAC action at 8-6.

“We played hard, we changed some things at halftime and it all came down to kids working together – they did great,” Carlisle said. “Cyrus (Smith) had some huge shots, Mariano (Bowles) had some huge boards, and everybody had some defensive stops. Greg Rice was huge guarding their point guard.”

To add icing to the cake, the win was in front of the largest, and certainly loudest crowd of the season in the Delaware Hall Gym. One of those in attendance was Ohio State head basketball coach Thad Matta. Matta was there to recruit Marquis Mathis of Cincinnati State. Mathis is a first year player from Columbus Harvest Prep. Mathis’ performance certainly did not win him a spot with the Buckeyes next season as he only played 18 minutes and had eight points as he was in foul trouble for most of the game.

“You dream for moments like this and you have to take advantage of them,” Smith said about the atmosphere.

After getting off to a 3-6 start in the conference, Columbus State has now finished with five conference wins in a row, and six wins overall. They still have two non-conference games this weekend followed by a trip to Cuyahoga Community College to participate in the regional tournament.

Cougars finish regular season on winning note

The Columbus State women’s basketball team finished the regular season last Wednesday night at home with an 89-81 win against the Cincinnati State Lady Surge.

The win boosted Columbus State to a tie for second in the OCCAC with a 10-4 conference record. Columbus State was looking to bounce back after a blowout loss at Cincinnati State earlier in the season.

“They beat us up pretty good down there at their place, they beat us up by 32 points,” Columbus State head coach Randy Crites said.

Columbus State held a 59-40 lead with 16 minutes left in last week’s game, but poor rebounding led Cincinnati State to charge back into the game. Cincinnati State would go on an 8-0 run and eventually cut the Cougars’ lead to single digits for the final 10 minutes.

At 81-73 with 4:30 left, Cougar Center Kerri Imwalle fouled out as the team needed rebounding; her presence was not there. The Lady Surge would make it a one possession game at 84-81 with 1:13 left. Good free throw shooting and Cincinnati State turnovers led to the final of 89-81.

It was a battle between good shooting and excellent rebounding. Columbus State shot 48% from the field and Cincinnati State outrebounded the Cougars 47-28. Also the Lady Surge had 26 turnovers compared to 12 for Columbus State.

“We played really well as a team, and this was one of our strongest games we had together,” Cougar Brenda Carter said. “That has been on our weakest things all season is rebounding. Coach (Crites) is stressing how important it is to rebound but they got us there tonight.”

Cougar Nyesha Watson staked a claim for OCCAC Player of the Year with her 30 point, seven assist, and five steal effort. She is second in scoring and first in assists and steals in the OCCAC this season. For Watson, Wednesday’s game was her final home game at Columbus State. For her career, she scored 871 points.

“I am sad about it but we won so it makes the ending a happy ending,” Watson said.

Watson is a member of Crites’ winningest class. Seven players who were members of both this and last year’s teams had back to back 20 win seasons.

“It is tough, it is hard when you have eight or nine kids who are not coming back. This was their last home game and they made the most of it,” Crites said.

The most important part of the season is yet to come. The team will take this week off from game action to prepare for next week’s NJCAA Regional Tournament. The Cougars are still waiting for the chips to fall to see who their matchup will be. The brackets will be announced early next week. Columbus State could end up getting a one seed when the bracket is released. Crites said there difference is a “bunch” between the one and two seed. He said the second seed could mean they would have to play Mott which finished third in the NJCAA National Championship last year.