DAHLONEGA, Ga.- Despite battling back from a nine-point deficit, the University of North Georgia men's basketball team was unable to hold off Columbus State late, falling 88-82, on Saturday afternoon in Memorial Hall.

CSU was up 55-50 until UNG hit four of the next five shots to move ahead 61-55 with just 12:56 left in the game.
  
With the game tied with 11 minutes to play, North Georgia scored the next five points before the Cougars went on a 9-0 run to grab a 71-67 lead with 6:45 remaining.
 
The Nighthawks made things interesting cutting the lead to one twice the rest of the way, including the final time at the 5:10 mark. CSU closed the game out strong going up by seven in the final minutes and hitting free throws to ice the game.

NOTES
- Dezell Hosch again led the Nighthawks in scoring with 22 points.

- Tyler Dominy added to the strong effort of the Nighthawks with 17 points and 8 rebounds on the day.

- Sean Brennan played 12 minutes and was perfect from the free-throw line as the only Nighthawk senior.

- JaCori Payne had a career night for Columbus State as he went for a career-high 34 points. The junior was 12-for-16 from the field, including 5-for-8 from long range.

- CSU shot over 50 percent in the game going 32-for-61 (52.5 percent) from the field. From long range, the Cougars shot 45.5 percent (10-for-22).
 
- UNG shot 39.1 percent (27-for-69) overall, but just 28.1 percent (9-for-32) from three.

- North Georgia (15-12, 11-7 PBC) can still clinch the top seed in the West Division for the upcoming Peach Belt Conference Tournament with a win in its regular season finale.

NEXT UP

The Nighthawks travel to Young Harris on Wednesday, Feb. 22 to take in a Battle of Blood Mountain game. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.