Koala Men Crush Bluefield on Homecoming

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Columbia College men's basketball team went on to crush visiting AAC foe Bluefield University (Va.) Saturday afternoon on Homecoming 69-44.

The Koalas' victory after a tough defeat on Wednesday saw them improve to 12-11 on the season and 5-10 in the conference while dropping Bluefield to 5-15 overall and 5-10 in AAC play as well. Columbia holds the tiebreaker, though and the 10th seed in the playoffs after sweeping the season series from the Rams.

CC got out to an early 23-11 lead on the Rams before BU trimmed it to 3 at 27-24. However, Columbia would take an 8-point lead into the break. The Koalas then used suffocating defense to limit Bluefield to just 20 points in the second half outscoring them 37-20 for the big win.

Columbia was led by 16 points apiece on a combined 13 of 18 shooting from senior guard Kendall Brasfield and junior forward Chandler O'Bannon while they combined for 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. CC shot an impressive 48 percent overall from the floor while shooting 33 percent from three. They then held the cold-shooting Rams to just 28.5% overall and only 21 percent from three.

Junior guard AJ Vaught led the team with six assists while senior guards Mac Washington and Alvaro Mendez combined for 15 points off the bench and 4 steals.