Men’s Basketball Earns AMC Win on Road at UHSP

St. Louis, Mo. – The Columbia College Men’s Basketball team continued their American Midwest Conference road swing with a contest against the Eutectics tonight of the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. The Cougars played to a 75-63 win over UHSP, moving to 14-5 overall and 6-1 in the AMC.
 
Tony Burks led the Cougars with 20 points, while Collin Parker finished with 16 points and Trendon Tisdale added 11 points of his own.
 
The first quarter saw both the Cougars and the Eutectics trade baskets to 14-11 UHSP lead. Cole Gerken scored on a layup and converted on the free throw for a three-point play, leveling the score 14-14.  More back-and-forth action had Tony Burks with two made layups in a row, putting Columbia up 21-20. Columbia extended its lead to 32-24 with contributions from Marlon Allen and Tommy Hafer. A six-point scoring run from UHSP prompted a timeout from the Cougars as their lead was cut to two points. Out of the timeout, a pass from Cole Gerken found Trendon Tisdale wide open for a corner three to stop the UHSP scoring run. Tisdale continued his impressive play as he scored again for the Cougars who took a 40-32 lead at the half.
 
The Eutectics scored first in the second half, but the Cougars responded immediately as Collin Parker would score on their next possession. Carson Parker and Collin Parker pushed Columbia a 50-43 lead when Tony Burks was fouled on a made layup when he then converted on the free-throw for a three-point play. Facing a ten-point deficit, 43-53, UHSP called a timeout to try to stop the Cougars from gaining any more momentum. Contributions from Dogukan Kara, Marlon Allen, and Tony Burks extended the Cougars’ lead to 59-45. Columbia crashed the boards hard and gave themselves multiple extra chances on offense as UHSP called another timeout with the Cougars now up 63-50. The Eutectics surged out of the timeout and into a seven-point scoring run, with Columbia now calling a timeout to try to halt the run. UHSP continued to score as they brought themselves to within three, 60-63, but the Cougars responded to go back ahead 68-60. As time expired, the Cougars claimed the 75-63 win.