ANDERSON, S.C. — The Catawba College men's basketball team finished its 2025-26 season with a second heartbreaking playoff loss, dropping its NCAA Southeast Regional quarterfinal tilt against No. 6 seed Columbus State, 78-75, on Saturday afternoon at Abney Athletic Center.

TEAM STATS
- Catawba (23-9) posted an above-average 51.6% field goal percentage, narrowly outdoing Columbus State (23-8) who registered a 47.3% mark
- Both sides attempted 22 three-pointers, but the Cougars were considerably more efficient with seven makes as Catawba drained just three
- Free throws made the ultimate difference as CSU went 19-for-24 (79.2%) against Catawba's 6-for-14 (42.9%), its lowest success rate since Jan. 18, 2018
- It was a clean game from a ball handling standpoint as only 18 were committed in the contest with the blue and white winning the battle 10-8
- Catawba out-rebounded the Cougars 34-31 with a 10-6 advantage in offensive boards, but extra grabs translated into just four second-chance points

INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Ibra Athie poured in 28 points, his most as a Catawba Indian and third-most at the collegiate level, on 13-of-17 from the field with a team-high nine rebounds
- Chase Daniel added 14 points while chipping in a team-leading six assists as well as five boards and two steals
- Justin Banks collected 12 points with five rebounds and one block, which cements him fourth all-time in career blocks (154) and third in single-season swats (64)
- Jordan Simpson notched nine points and six rebounds with a pair of assists
- Carson Daniel drained a three-pointer, amassed five assists, and posted a team-high three steals; the Daniel Duo combined for 11 dimes and five steals
- Zion McDuffie recorded six points with a 3-for-3 shooting clip while tallying two rebounds and a steal in seven minutes of run

FINAL NOTES
- Simpson's 73 three-pointers are tied for fifth in Catawba single-season history
- The Daniel twins finished with top-10 season steals marks in the program record book; Chase is fifth (65), Carson is seventh (64)
- Carson Daniel's 154 assists goes down as the eighth-best campaign in program history
- As a team, the Catawba Indians recorded their third-most steals (334), one shy of the second-place mark
- The 100th season of Catawba men's hoops in Salisbury wraps up with the program's 15th NCAA Tournament appearance, the fourth consecutive and sixth under Head Coach Rob Perron
- The program expects to return 11 players in 2026-27