Cougars Have Home Court Win Streak Snapped

Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College men’s basketball team had its 19-game home winning streak snapped with an 84-77 loss to Lyon College Thursday during Faculty Appreciation Night at Southwell Complex.
 
Lyon scored the final 14 points of the game after the Cougars led 77-70 with 3:56 to play. The loss at home was its first since a 72-62 loss to Missouri Baptist on Jan. 8, 2022.
 
Marlon Allen scored a career-high 22 points, while Tony Burks (20 points), Collin Parker (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Dogukan Kara (10) also scored in double figures. The Cougars shot 50.0 percent (32-64) from the field and dominated points in the paint (48-26).
 
Lyon improved to 7-10 (3-7 AMC) with the win, while Columbia had its five-game win streak snapped and fell to 16-6 (8-2 AMC). Despite the setback, the Cougars remain in first place in the AMC standings.
 
A back and forth first 10 minutes saw the Scots gain the 17-13 advantage. A three-point play by Kara ignited a 10-2 run as the Cougars built a 28-21 lead. Columbia continued to take advantage in the paint and a 6-0 run made it 36-27 with 5:25 to play.
 
Lyon’s Trenton Bell connected on a pair of threes in the final 39 seconds of the first half as the Scots outscored the Cougars 15-2 in the final 5:11 to take a 42-38 lead.
 
Burks had 13 points in the first half as the Cougars shot 48.6 percent (17-35) from the field and dominated the paint (30-18). Israel Palmer led all scorers with 14 points as Lyon outscored Columbia 11-2 in points off turnovers.
 
The Scots scored the first six points of the second half to extend the run to 21-2 and took a double-figure advantage (48-38). Allen drained a pair of three-pointers to ignite a 14-3 run to get the lead back for the Cougars at 52-51.
 
A three-point play by Tommy Hafer and a three-pointer by Burks gave Columbia a five-point (58-53) advantage, and a 7-0 run by the Cougars got the lead back to 10 (67-57) with 9:36 to play.
 
Palmer scored 10 of the final 14 points of the game for the Scots to seal the win.
 
Palmer finished with a game-high 33 points, while Tenton Bell (16 points), Nikola Sasarogav (15) and John Paul Morgan (12) also scored in double figures. The Scots hit 10-of-24 from three-point range and committed a season-low five turnovers.
 
Columbia leads the all-times series 35-9 and had its four-game win streak snapped in the series.
 
The Cougars host Central Baptist College on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 3 p.m.