YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. | Young Harris College overcame an early 13-point deficit as they rallied for a 90-79 Peach Belt Conference men's basketball win over Columbus State University Wednesday (Jan. 11) evening at the YHC Basketball Arena.

The Mountain Lions won their sixth consecutive game as they improved to 11-3 overall and remain the lone unbeaten team in the league with a 5-0 ledger. The Cougars fell to 10-3 and 3-3. Young Harris starts a key three-game road swing Saturday (Jan. 14) with a 3:30 p.m. league contest in Pembroke, North Carolina, against the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

The Cougars got off to a fast start as they hit hit eight of their first 12 attempts as they took a 13-point lead (18-5) on a Darius Joell layup with 15:08 remaining. Young Harris returned the favor as the scored 15 of the next 17 points to knot the game at 20 on a C.J. Wilson jumper in the paint with 7:30 left in the half. Columbus State scored the next seven points to retake a 27-20 lead on a Joell layup two minutes later.

However, the Mountain Lions took their first lead of the game (33-32) on a dunk by Corey Nelson with 86 seconds to go and took a 38-35 lead into the locker room. The lead seesawed back and forth betwween the two team over the first eight minutes of the second half before the Mountain Lions took the lead for good at 57-55 on a J.B. Charles putback with 11:28 to go. Young Harris, which outscored the Cougars 33-15 on second-chance points as the Mountain Lions held a 48-37 edge on the glass (23-14 in offensive rebounds), broke open the game with a 15-2 run over a four-minute stretch to take its largest lead - 17 points (83-66) - on a Wilson layup with 4:38 remaining.

"The bench was a key to the win (outscoring Columbus State 27-13)" said Young Harris head coach Pete Herrmann. "It was a real balanced effort tonight. Marques didn't miss a shot and grabbed some key rebounds while J.B. hit four baskets in a row and Demari helped as well."

Wilson led all scorers with 26 points, while Ben Waterhouse added 14 points and seven rebounds. Charles and Nelson each tossed in 10 points while Nelson added seven rebounds. McKoy tallied  nine points and seven rebounds. Demari Edwards contributed eight points while Bjorn Walker scored seven points and had seven rebounds.

JaCori Payne led the Cougars with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-10 from three-point range, while Joell finished with 21. Marcus Dixon and Arben Camaj each scored 10 points, while Dixon grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.