Dayton, OH – In a battle between two ranked teams, 20th ranked Columbus State held on at home to defeat 13th ranked Sinclair 69-82 Saturday afternoon.

Entering halftime with an 18 point deficit, Sinclair was able to make some adjustments and work its way back into the second half.  With about 4 minutes left in the game, Sinclair had worked the lead all the way down to 6 points.  Columbus State made a couple of big plays at home to push the lead back up to 10 points and iced the victory.

In a very physical game, Columbus committed 33 fouls and Sinclair 22 fouls respectively.  With a combined 78 total free throws, Sinclair could not find the range from the line going 22 of 42 for the game (52%).  The line was not the only place the Pride could not get anything going, their shootings struggles continued onto the floor by making only 21 of 70 (30%) shots.

Leading the way for the Pride with his 7th Double-Double, Darrien Wilkins (6-5/Cincinnati Princeton H.S.) 18 points and 15 rebounds.  Mark Allen (6-4/Cincinnati Northwest H.S.) contributed 15 points and Patrick Crawford (6-01/Centerville H.S.) added 10 points.

Sinclair will host Edison this Wednesday at 7:30 in the first home conference game of the year.