COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Senior Devin Watson led all scorers with 21 points, but the Georgia Southwestern State University men's basketball team was unable to overcome an early deficit and suffered a 86-75 loss Wednesday evening in the Lumpkin Center. 

Watson hit on 5 of 10 attempts from 3-point range and led the Hurricanes with three steals.  

GSW suffered its sixth-consecutive defeat and fell to 2-11 overall and 0-7 in the Peach Belt Conference. Columbus State won for the second time in its last three games to improve to 7-6, 3-5 in the PBC.   

How It Happened: The Hurricanes answered an 8-0 Columbus State run to open the game with nine consecutive points of their own and grabbed their only lead of the evening, 9-8, following a 3-pointer by Watson. 

GSW trailed by a bucket, 15-13, before the Cougars distanced themselves with a 13-2 run over a five-minute span where the Hurricanes turned the ball over three times and went 1 for 7 from the floor. Columbus State could only add two more points to the margin over the final 6:21 of the opening session and led 38-21 at the break.

The Cougars led by as many as 24 points, 50-26, in the second half before GSW cut the deficit to single digits, 84-75, in the closing minute.   

Columbus State (56.4 percent) finished with its best shooting night of the season, while GSW shot 41 percent. The Hurricanes have allowed opponents to shoot over 50 percent in five of six games during their current losing streak. GSW has not shot over 50 percent since the opening game of the season. Rebounds (38-25) and blocks (10-3) were in favor of the home team. It was the Hurricanes second-lowest rebound total of the season.  

Who Stood Out: R.J. Sessions joined Watson in double figures with 18 points for the Hurricanes. The team lead for rebounds was shared by four players with three apiece.   

Columbus State had five players score in double figures, led by Bryant Givens with 18 points. Givens finished with double-double after dishing out 10 assists and he added a game-high six rebounds.

Up Next: The Hurricanes travel to Florence, S.C., for a rematch with Francis Marion University (10-2, 6-1 PBC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. FMU defeated the Hurricanes in Americus, 90-85, on Dec. 17.