Posted: Feb 21, 2026
Koala Men Hold off TWU to notch their 10th Conference Win
Columbia (SC)
(13-15, 10-9)
94
Tennessee Wesleyan
(11-11, 10-8)
87
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Columbia (SC) (13-15, 10-9) | 53 | 41 | 94 |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan (11-11, 10-8) | 40 | 47 | 87 |
ATHENS, Tenn. - The Columbia College Men's Basketball team held off Tennessee Wesleyan University 94-87 on the road Saturday to notch their 10th conference win of the season and 13th overall.
Junior wing Chandler O'Bannon led the Koalas with 25 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double on 10 of 14 shooting while senior guard Tae Burton, pictured, also finished with 21 points on 6 of 11 shooting with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and two blocks as he had a solid all-around game as well.
Finally, the third Koala to finish with 20 points was senior guard Alileyon Ford scoring 20 on 5 of 7 shooting and two 3-pointers along with four rebounds and two blocks off the bench. The fourth Koala to finish in double-figure scoring was freshman forward Jamison McKenzie with 10 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.
Redshirt freshman forward Zach Smith played well also finishing with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists while senior wing Thomas Whitley and sophomore guard Jordyn McKeen combined for 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals with McKeen also adding 3 assists.
The Koalas had a big offensive first half scoring 53 points to take a 53-40 halftime lead before a 47-41 TWU second half was not enough to overcome the Columbia lead. CC's biggest lead of the second half was 14 points at the 7:15 mark when they led 76-62 and again at 83-69 with under 5 minutes to play. The Bulldogs then made a comeback trimming the Koalas lead all the way down to five at 89-84 at the :48 second mark to finish off a 15-6 run. However, CC would not be deterred and held on for the big win.
CC shot nearly 58% overall from the floor and 35.5% from three while knocking down 23 of 30 free throws and out-rebounding TWU 36-31.
The victory catapulted the Koalas into a 5th place tie in the conference at 10-9 and the 5th seed in next week's conference tournament when the AAC brackets were released on Sunday evening. The #5 Koalas, now 13-15 overall, will face #4 seed Union on Thursday morning in the AAC tournament that takes place from Feb. 25-28 in Kingsport, TN.