COLUMBUS, GA – Graduate student Evrik Gary and juniors Luka Zivkovic and Trevonte Dixon combined for 39 second-half points as Francis Marion University rallied to claim a 75-72 victory at Columbus State University, Friday night (Jan. 10) in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.

Francis Marion had to survive four CSU attempts from behind the three-point arc in the final 15.5 seconds, but none fell in and the Patriots (5-6, 2-3) earned their second straight PBC win.  CSU drops to 7-5 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

FMU will continue its weekend road trip on Sunday afternoon at Georgia Southwestern State University with a 3:30 p.m. tip-off.  The next home game for FMU will be Jan. 18 against the University of Montevallo.

Gary scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the second half and in the process tied former Francis Marion swingman Franklin Bellamy for ninth place on the Patriot career scoring list with 1,455 points. The 6-3 Camden native also grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists.

Senior Robert Carpenter followed Gary with 17 points, 14 of which came in the opening stanza. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Zivkovic scored 14 of his career-high 16 points over the final 20 minutes including four three-pointers.  Dixon tallied all of his 11 points after halftime.

FMU held its only lead of the first half at 6-3 in the opening minutes. Columbus State closed the half on an 11-2 run to own a 40-30 lead at intermission.

The Patriots repeatedly rallied to within one possession in the final half, but were unable to tie the contest until the final two minutes. A three-point play by Dixon finally knotted the score at 66-66 with 2:04 remaining. Four possessions later, Carpenter nailed a fast-break three-pointer off a steal by Gary and an assist from Dixon to put Francis Marion up 69-66 with 1:13 left.

A pair of free throws by Gary extended the margin to 71-66 and capped a 10-0 Patriot run.  A pair of long three-pointers by CSU's BJ Battle kept the Cougars close, but two free throws each by Zivkovic and Dixon allowed FMU to maintain a 75-72 lead with 15.5 seconds left.  The Cougars would get off four potential tying three-point shots in those final seconds, but all were no good.

R. J. Sessions led CSU with 23 points, while Battle added 15.

Both teams had nearly identical shooting stats. FMU was 22-of-58 (37.9%) from the field, including 11-of-31 from three-point range, and the Patriots shot 80 percent (20-of-25) from the stripe.  Columbus State shot 22-of-59 (37.3%) from the floor, including 11-of-32 from deep, and 17-of-22 at the foul line.

Francis Marion outrebounded the Cougars 40-36 and held a 20-7 advantage in second-chance points.  FMU also converted 17 Cougar turnovers into 28 points.