Daniel Dixon rebounded from his worst game of the season with his best Thursday night.

The Augusta State freshman guard posted a career-high 15 points, Tyrekus Bowman added 29 and Augusta State pulled out an 81-75 conference-opening win over Columbus State at Christenberry Fieldhouse.

"After the Catawba game, we just talked about moving on," Dixon said. "(Bowman) just told me to keep looking forward and to move on."

Augusta State committed 32 turnovers - eight by Dixon - in a blowout loss to Catawba last week. The Jaguars (9-3, 1-0) lost only eight turnovers against the Cougars.

Dixon came through in the clutch, converting all six of his free throw attempts in the final two minutes. He scored 12 of his 15 after halftime and added four rebounds and four steals.

Bowman, the Peach Belt Conference scoring leader at 21.3 points a game, rebounded from his worst showing of the season as well. Against Catawba, he scored eight points in 16 minutes before fouling out.

The junior forward came back strong, posting a double-double before halftime. He ended the night with a career-best 18 rebounds , five assists and two steals. A rare missed slam dunk and a 5-for-10 effort from the foul line kept him from having a perfect night.

"I played all right," he said. "I missed some free throws down the stretch. We can definitely play better as a team."

Columbus State used a 14-2 run to take a 56-47 lead with 13:20 remaining.

Augusta State pulled within one on a pair of 3-pointers by Ben Madgen, who scored 14 points, and another from Steve Smith.

Garret Siler, Augusta State's center who returned to the game with four fouls, went up for the go-ahead basket, but he got blocked by Cougars center Alton Hart.

The Jaguars' bench and fans thought there was contact on the play.

On the other end, Siler went up and fouled Corris Portis. The call infuriated Augusta State coach Dip Metress, who kept his composure. Siler fouled out with 10 points.

After Portis made the two free throws, Dixon responded with the game-tying 3-pointer with 5:01 left in the game.

Bowman then spun around Hart for a pair of layups in a 67-second span to put Augusta State up for good.

Hart, the conference's third leading scorer and leading rebounder, posted 14 points and 13 rebounds. Ron Robinson led Columbus State with 21 points, while Portis added 15.

Columbus State went 13-for-31 from the perimeter, but the team connected on just one of its final six attempts.