Southeastern Pulls Away in the Second Half to Defeat Koala Men

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Columbia College men's basketball team fell 100-75 to Southeastern University (FL) to finish out their 5-game season-opening homestand on Saturday from Columbia.

Senior guard Tae Burton again led the Koalas in scoring with 19 points and 3 three-pointers on 5 of 11 shooting along with a team-best six assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal. Junior Guard Austin Harrell also finished with 11 points and 2 assists while junior forward Chandler O'Bannon also totaled 11 points and an assist.

A back and forth competitive first half saw neither team lead by more than five points throughout the 20 minutes as SEU took a 44-43 lead at the break. Columbia took their final lead of the game at 52-51 with 16 minutes to play before SEU went on a 17-5 run to take an 11-point lead. The Fire then increased their lead to 20 points with 6 minutes to go as they pulled away for the win outscoring the Koalas 56-32 in the second half.

SEU shot 54% overall for the game and 93% from the free-throw line making 28 of 30 while CC shot 49 percent and 42 percent from three.

Senior forward Nakia Johnson also added 9 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block while senior wing Thomas Whitley posted 8 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block. Forwards Zach Smith and James Munlyn combined for 11 points and 3 rebounds in the loss.

SEU improves to 3-1 on the season while Columbia falls to 2-3. The Koalas next return to action on Wednesday when they begin AAC play by traveling up the road to Spartanburg to battle SMC at 7:30 pm.