Koalas' Second Half Rally Falls Short at TWU

ATHENS, TN - The Columbia College men's basketball team dropped their final road conference game of the season on Saturday falling 94-81 at Tennessee Wesleyan.

Senior guard Kendall Brasfield led the Koalas with 23 points and 8 rebounds on 9 of 17 shooting while junior forward Nakia Johnson had a terrific defensive game recording 16 points and 15 rebounds with 2 blocks.

The Koalas shot 43% overall and 21 percent from three while out-rebounding the Bulldogs 49-36. TWU made nine threes to Columbia's three making the difference in the game. TWU got out to a 47-37 lead at the halftime break before going up by as much as 14 early in the second half at 57-43. However, Columbia then went on a 19-10 run to climb within five points at 62-67 with just under 10 minutes to play, but could only get to as close as six points (73-79) with four minutes to go as they would fall short in the end.

Junior guard AJ Vaught also played well tallying 16 points with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal while senior guard Mac Washington posted 9 points off the bench with a team-best three steals. Junior wing Thomas Whitley also added 8 points while junior forward Chandler O'Bannon recorded 7 points, 9 rebounds and an assist.

Columbia falls to 13-14 overall and 6-13 in the AAC while TWU improved to 11-12 on the season and 10-8 in the league.

The Koalas will next return home for the final time next Saturday when they host Reinhardt on Senior Day at 4:30 pm.