A year after winning the Class 3A state championship, the Columbia Academy Cougars lasted just one round in the South State Tournament, losing on their home floor to end their season Tuesday.
The Cougars (17-13) struggled offensively both making shots and holding onto the ball as they lost 26-21 to Tri-County Academy in the opening round of the postseason.
“I thought the guys did a really good job except we made some really bad decisions. Our decision making in some critical areas just wasn’t good, and it cost us. Some of those were turnovers where we tried to force some things and ended up turning it over,” head coach Dale Watts said. “Overall I thought the plan was good, and I thought the guys would do a real good job then turn around and make an immature mistake that ended up costing us the game.”
Cody Fortenberry, in just his second week back from missing three-plus weeks, led the Cougars with 10 points and six rebounds, while Robert Johnson, in his final game, had six points.
Columbia Academy was in a bit of a transition year after losing just three games last season en route to a state title. Watts said it was a process for the role players from last year’s squad to step up to be the leaders on top of the Cougars being without two of their best players (Fortenberry and Jeffrey Pennington) for stretches of the season.
“It seemed like we were always fixing something,” Watts said. “But I think it was a really good year. I’m disappointed we lost. But I told them during district — I have to give Robert a lot of credit for doing a great job and coming a long way — I wasn’t coaching this team just for this year because I have all of them back except for Robert. Really I was looking down the road as much as the next day or the next game.”
He added that he feels really good about next year and hopes to couple better health from Fortenberry and Pennington with the improved play of point guard Hays Carley, who became a go-to option down the stretch.
“Hays really stepped up. He was our mainstay all year long. He was the one guy we could count on, and he was there all year,” Watts said. “And he brought those sophomores along because we had to play some of them during the course of the year a lot. We won some games with those guys that really weren’t ready, and Hays was the big reason for that.”
