The Columbia International University Men's Basketball team continued their fantastic season tonight in the first round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament. The Rams went into the tournament as the #7 seed and they took on the Cavaliers of Montreat College the #2 seed. The teams split the regular season series, but today the Cavaliers got the better of the Rams and knocked them out of the tournament with a 87-79 victory.

1st Half Highlights:

• Over the first two minutes of the game the Cavaliers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead
• Jeff McIlwain got the Rams on the board with a put back layup
• The Cavaliers would hit a three, but three straight free throws by Damian Hurta brought the Rams within five of the Cavaliers
• A minute later the Rams were within three on a jumper in the paint by Arthur Pearson
• The teams would go back and forth, but at the fourteen minute mark the Rams were down by one after a jumper by Elijah Spalding
• A minute after the Spalding shot, a three by Corey Benton would give the Rams their first lead of the game, 14-12
• With nine minute left in the half the Cavaliers would come back to tie the game at 18
• The Cavaliers would close out the half on a 16-5 run and lead the Rams 34-23 at the half

2nd Half Highlights:

• The Rams started out the half with two free throws by Benton a minute and a half in
• The two teams would go back and forth, but a small run by the Cavaliers saw them push their lead up to 18 with just under twelve minutes left in the game
• The Rams tried to fight their way back, but each shot they made it seemed as if the Cavaliers would match them and hold onto their double digit lead
• With just about four minutes left in the game a three by Benton brought the Rams with 13
• The Cavaliers pushed their lead back to 16, but after a three by Zach Norris the Rams were back within 13
• With 1:40 left in the game two straight free throws by Kyren Bolden trimmed the Cavaliers lead to nine
• In the final minute Benton would score four straight points of the Rams, but a free throw by the Cavaliers gave them a 87-79 victory

Box Score Highlights:

• The Rams struggled from the floor as they shot 35.1% (27-of-77) for the game and were just 8-of-30 from beyond the arc...The Cavaliers shot 50.8% for the game and were only 19-of-34 from the free throw line...The Cavaliers beat the Rams off the glass as they had 55 compared to the Rams 35...The Rams only had seven turnovers and forced the Cavaliers into 18 turnovers...Corey Benton led the Rams with 30 points and had four rebounds...Arthur Pearson had nine points, three rebounds, and two assists...Damian Hurta, Jeff McIlwain, and Eric Graham all had six points a piece...Alonzo Mobley led the Cavaliers with 27 points and nine rebounds

Up Next: The Rams will host the NCCAA South Region Tournament on March 8-9. It is still to be determined who the Rams will be playing, but all the games will be at the Moore Fitness Center.