The Columbia International University Men's Basketball team was back on the court today as they hosted Bluefield College in the Battle of the Rams. Columbia International was looking to rebound and get back in the win column after falling to Union College on Monday, while Bluefield was looking to win their second straight. The game was back and forth to begin, but CIU lead at half and didn't let up in the second half as they won 84-70. With the win CIU moves to 12-9 (7-8 AAC) on the year, while Bluefield falls to 13-7 (7-7 AAC).

1st Half Highlights:

• Bluefield got on the board first a minute into the game
• CIU would get their first points off the game off a layup by Jeff McIlwain after he grabbed an offensive rebound
• CIU would grabbed the early advantage on a three by Arthur Pearson
• Bluefield would regain the lead on six straight points, but two straight layups by McIlwain gave CIU the lead back
• The teams would go back and forth trading leads, but with 8:43 left in the half CIU got a one point lead back on another layup by McIlwain
• After a three by Corey Benton and a layup by Pearson, CIU would take a six point lead
• With just over five minutes left in the half Bluefield would pull within three of CIU
• Over the final five minutes CIU went on a 13-4 to lead 43-31 at the half

2nd Half Highlights:

• In the first two minutes of the second half the Rams were able to push their lead to fourteen on two layups by McIlwain and Benton
• CIU would take their biggest lead of the game so far at the 16:58 mark on a three by Eric Graham
• CIU would hold onto a comfortable lead even though Bluefield was able to trim the lead to single digits
• With just over seven minutes left in the game Brandon Doss was able to convert on a fast break layup to put CIU back up by 14
• Once again CIU would go up by 15 on a three by Benton
• The Rams would close out the game hitting their free throws and win 84-70

Box Score Highlights:

• Columbia International shot 46.4% (32-of-69) from the field, but were an uncharacteristic 8-of-31 from beyond the arc...Bluefield shot 39.4% from the field and were only 4-of-17 from the three point line...The Columbia International dominated the paint as they had 46 points in the paint and pulled down 43 rebounds...Columbia International did a great job of limiting turnovers to seven and dishing out 23 assists...Corey Benton led the Rams with 22 points and chipped in with six rebounds and five assists...Jeff McIlwain had another double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds...Arthur Pearson had 17 points, six rebounds, and five assists...Tajae Anderson had nine points, six rebounds, and four assists off the bench...Niquan Cousins led Bluefield with 17 points and nine rebounds

Up Next: Columbia International will almost have a full week off before they are back in action at home on January 29th against St. Andrews University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.