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Cougars looking to finish season with bang

The Columbus State women’s basketball team was faced with an unexpected challenge Saturday from a Clark State squad that was looking for their first conference victory this season.
The Cougars were able to pull off the victory Saturday against the Clark State Eagles. The win follows a win at Edison State in overtime last Wednesday. With the pair of wins, Columbus State is now 9-4 in conference, 19-6 overall.

When Columbus State hosted the Chargers in January, the Cougars needed to go on a big late game comeback to win that game 65-59. They would need to hang tough in the overtime period to win 89-84 this go around.

The Clark State Eagles entered Columbus State’s campus with a 21 game conference losing streak dating back to Jan. 13, 2007. They were one basket away from ending that conference losing streak. The Cougars had an 18 point first half lead trimmed in half by halftime. Clark State never had a lead in Saturday’s game.

Columbus State got a big basket with 50 seconds left by Tiffany Powell to give the Cougars a five point lead. Clark State’s Stacey Strayer tied the game at 77 with a three pointer with nine seconds left. Columbus State would get the ball into the hands of Powell who drove the lane and got fouled with 2.5 seconds left. She drained both her shots and the Cougars prevailed 79-77.

Powell had 20 points for the game; all of which in the second half.

“It felt good (to make those shots),” Powell said. “I just wanted to pull my team out knowing that I had no points in the beginning… I am good at free throws so I thought I wanted to be on the line.”

Tonight is the final home game for eight Cougars. The class of 2008 is the winningest class in head coach’s Randy Crites 13 year stint according to Crites. With Saturday’s win, the team is 39-14 since the start of the 2006-07 season.

“I give (Clark State) a lot of credit, we didn’t do anything to stop their inside game,” Crites said. “I don’t know that I was surprised. I think they have played well against good opposition… They can play.”

Columbus State welcomes the Cincinnati State Surge into Delaware Hall tonight. Columbus State lost to Cincinnati State by 32 on Jan. 23. The Surge is ranked in the top 20. The Cougars are 0-4 against teams ranked in the top 20 this season. The winner of tonight’s game will finish
second in the OCCAC behind Sinclair.


Cougars perfect in February

The Columbus State men’s basketball team’s success in the month of February continued Saturday with a 97-73 win against the Clark State Eagles. The win followed a much closer 63-61 win at Edison State last Wednesday.

The pair of wins put the Cougars over .500 in OCCAC action at 7-6 and they are now 18-8 overall.

The OCCAC also announced that Cougars Mariano Bowles and Jerrell Sanders are co-conference Players of the Week for their play against Lakeland and Owens the week before.

“It was great (being selected), I wasn’t expecting it because I am a freshman. I have been playing hard lately and as a team, we are on a five game win streak which is always good,” Sanders said.

“It is good that two players from one team got it,” Bowles said.

Saturday’s win was against a struggling Clark State squad that has only won a single conference game all season. Columbus State had four players scoring in double figures with Greg LeSage getting a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Columbus State shot well at
49.3% from the field.

With only one conference game to go and a few weeks before the start of the regional tournament, this is a good time to be playing the best basketball of the year.

But conference leading Cincinnati State comes to Columbus State tonight for the conference finale. Cincinnati State is 12-1 in conference, 23-3 overall. The Surge is ranked in the top five nationally and defeated the Cougars in one previous outing this season.

“We got a real big game against Cincinnati State… I feel like we are the most athletic and more talented team, we just have to pull it through, execute, run our offense and play good defense,” Bowles said.

“We pull this win off, that would be an eye opener for the rest of the conference,” Sanders said. “It would really get some people really looking out for us and get our confidence up going into the tournament.”

The Cougars still have some non-conference matches coming up including a Friday night showdown at Southern State.