The victory was the Lowgators' (17-9) fourth straight over the Riverdragons (13-12) this season and the team's third straight victory at the Columbus Civic Center. The win improves the Lowgators' league-best road record to 9-3.

"We just come in here and play good defense," said Lowgators head coach Alex English. "I guess my guys were very focused tonight. We weren't the last game we played. We have a tendency to play up to the competition, or down, which was the case when we played Fayetteville. But, we were very focused. We feel like we can beat this squad and we just worked hard played."

In the bigger picture, the Lowgators move into sole possession of first-place, a half-game over idle Mobile. The Lowgators face the Revelers at Mobile in a first-place showdown this Monday night.

Fred House (12 points), Makhtar N'Diaye (11 points), Sedric Webber (11 points) and Galen Young (10 points) joined Black in double-figures. N'Diaye led North Charleston with eight rebounds while reserve center Neil Edwards contributed to the Lowgators' defensive effort with three blocks.

With the loss, the Riverdragons' record at home drops to 5-8 and in a tie with the Fayetteville Partiots for the worst home record in the NBDL. The Riverdragons have lost four straight at home and have yet to win at the Columbus Civic Center in 2002. The Riverdragons have not won at home since defeating the Roanoke Dazzle 74-65 on Dec. 19, 2001, in Columbus.

"I think in each position on this level," said Riverdragons head coach Jeff Malone, "you have to have a guy who can come in and sit another guy down when he's not doing his job. We are going to get to that level. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we are going to get there."

Ray Tutt lead the Riverdragons with 21 points, knocking down 9-of-16 shots from the floor to notch his second 20-plus-points performance of the season. Tremaine Fowlkes had 17 points and eight rebounds, to post his 24th straight game scoring in double-figures.

Power forward Gabe Muoneke had 14 points and ten rebounds to earn his second double-double of the season. Center Kareem Poole had eight and ten rebounds. Poole has pulled down 60 rebounds in his last five games (12.0 rpg).

The Lowgators defense forced the Riverdragons into 16 turnovers, including 10 turnovers in the first half, leading to 21 North Charleston points.

Columbus shot 0-9 from beyond the arc. The Lowgators were slightly luckier. With one second to play in the first half, Makthar Ndiaye hit just his second three-pointer of the season to give the Lowgators an eight point lead, 44-34, at the half.

The Lowgators would lead by as many as 12-points early in the third quarter. The Riverdragons responded with an 18-8 run capped by two free throws by Kareem Poole to tie the score at 58-58 with 2:42 to play in the quarter.

The Lowgators pushed the lead back to nine when Neil Edwards hit a layup to give the Lowgators a 74-65 lead with 4:07 to play in regulation. The Riverdragons would not get closer than four points before suffering their fifth loss in their last seven games.