The Cougars enter Wednesday’s contest looking to rebound from a loss to the Argonauts of West Florida on Monday night. CSU and West Florida battled to a first half tie at 28-28 but the second half belonged to UWF. The Argonauts outscored Columbus State 44-30 in the final 20 minutes and went on to the 72-58 victory.
The Cougars were led by Steve Peterson, Donta Ridley, and Jarmarquis Steverson who all scored eleven points. CSU struggled from three-point range, connecting on only four of 17 attempts and shot just 33 percent from the floor.
Columbus State and the Tornadoes of Talladega College will meet on the court for the first time in nearly fifteen years. CSU is 6-0 all-time versus Talladega with the last contest coming on December 11, 1995. That game resulted in an 86-81 win for the Cougars.
Talladega College comes into Wednesday’s game looking to bounce back from a 71-68 loss to Cumberland University on Monday night. The Tornadoes are 3-4 away from home this year and have lost three of their last four contests. Talladega is coached by William Brown who is in his second season.
The Tornadoes come to town featuring a potent offensive attack in which three players average 15 points or more per game. As a team they rank in the top ten in NAIA in free throw percentage.
Individually, Talladega is led by a trio of explosive backcourt players. Kerry Harris a 6-0 junior guard from Montgomery, Alabama leads the team in scoring at 23.2 points per game. Harris has scored twenty or more points in six of nine games played this year and is shooting 37.5 percent from downtown. He is ranked No.2 in NAIA in both points per game and total scoring.
Other key players to watch for the Tornadoes are Phil Wood and Tarium Taylor. Wood, a 6-foot-4 guard from Washington, DC is averaging 20.9 points per contest and has registered 15 points or more in five of the seven games he has played this year. Taylor a 6-2 guard from Sylacauga, AL averages 17.7 points per game and has scored 18, 15, and 17 in his last three games.
Defensively, the Tornadoes are ranked in the top ten in NAIA in total blocks as a team. The Talladega frontline features a 7-0 center in Jimmy Sutton. Sutton averages 3.1 blocks per game and has 28 blocks on the year. Sutton has registered nine blocks in his last two games.
Columbus State will return to action on Tuesday December 7 at home against the sixth-ranked Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Lumpkin Center.
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