Tuskegee Late Charge Falls Short
November 30, 2002
Columbus, GA - It wasn't easy, but the Columbus State Cougars held
off a late charge and finally put the Golden Tigers of Tuskegee
away 97-86 here Saturday night. The Cougars led by as many as 19
points in the second half and had to survive a late run to hold
on for the win.
The two teams played a relatively even game for the first 16
minutes of play, although CSU led most of the way. Leading 39-
33 with 4:04 to play in the half, the Cougars quickly reeled off
a 9-2 run and took a 48-35 lead. A Jon Antonelli trey capped the
lead off a kick-out from post man Kamar Zachery.
With 45 seconds to play in the half, John Thomas took a feed
from Deshawn Bowman and gave the Cougars their biggest lead of
the game to that point at 54-37. Imbert Prosper canned a trey
14 seconds later to send the teams into the locker room with CSU
ahead 54-40.
In the second half, the two teams again played fairly even until
the Cougars went on a run to take a commanding lead. Leading 66-55
after a lay-up by Kamar Zachery with 12:28 to play, the Cougars
out-scored the visitors 10-2 over a three minute span to go up
76-57. A Jed Bedford trey with 9:18 left provided the margin.
Tuskegee began a run of their own three minutes later. With the
Cougars up 83-67, the Golden Tigers rattled off 10 unanswered
points to cut the margin to just 83-77. A Jamaal Bennett three-
ball capped the run and put Tuskegee right back in the game.
After the visitors cut the margin to five, the Cougars got back
on track and ran the margin out to 12 points with an 8-1 run.
A John Thomas slam put the finishing touches on the run and effectively
slammed the door on Tuskegee with 1:12 to play. Deshawn Bowman
capped the scoring with a pair of free-throws with 11 seconds
left to seal the win.
Bedford led five Cougars in double figures with 22 points. Thomas
added 17 to go with a game-high 11 rebounds. Bowman added 15 points
and 11 assists, while Kamar Zachery and Jack Tinkler each came
off the bench to score 11 points each. Tinkler canned all three
of his three-point attempts.
Bennett led Tuskegee (1-2) with 20 points, including five treys.
Charlie Caston added 19 points, while Prosper chipped in 17 off
the bench.
CSU out-rebounded Tuskegee 42-32 and shot a much-improved 49
percent from the floor. CSU caused 24 turnovers, but committed
23, and each team had 10 steals.
| 
