With the emergence of sharpshooter Lucious Prejean coupling with the return of Kendale Johnson and DJ Cloyd from football, the Wildcats have quietly won three of their last four games as they get into their district schedule.
Columbia (4-9, 1-2) picked up its first district win of the season at home Jan. 4, topping Poplarville 45-32. After trailing 18-17 at the half, the Wildcats came out firing in the second half and doubled the Hornets’ output 28-14 to pull away for the 13-point victory, led by Johnson.
At Sumrall Friday, Columbia’s up-and-down nature came back to haunt the Wildcats in a 62-58 loss. Columbia led 25-21 at halftime but didn’t score a single point in the third quarter as the Bobcats went on a 20-0 run to take a 41-25 lead into the fourth quarter. In a whacky turn of events, though, Columbia exploded for 33 points in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late.
“It is crazy. It (angers you) when you only play one good quarter,” head coach Jordan Dupuy said.
The second-year head coach said Columbia’s inconsistency quarter to quarter and game to game is a direct reflection of its practices.
“I tell them our practices are up and down, so that’s how you’re going to play. Sometimes practice is really good, and sometimes we lose focus. Our games are an exact reflection of how our practices go. We didn’t practice well (Monday), so I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t play well (Tuesday),” Dupuy said Monday evening. “Until we learn how to practice consistently, we cannot play consistently. We’re just not good enough to turn it on and off.”
He pointed to the day before Columbia beat Jeff Davis County 67-61 on Dec. 23 as the team’s best practice this season, which led to the victory. Dupuy said the Jaguars had a distinct advantage with their athleticism, but the Wildcats were able to win because of how they practiced.
“It’s not about anything that we do during the game; it’s about how we prepare for each game. We have to get some leadership,” he explained. “We don’t have anybody that somebody looks to for advice or no glue to the team. We need someone who does everything the right way and going extremely hard, so you don’t have to coach effort. We don’t have that yet. We only have about four weeks left to get it.”
Several young players have taken their games to new heights in Columbia’s last four games, which likely is a result of having to play a lot of minutes early in the season until football ended. Prejean, a sophomore, has become a force from the perimeter since the East Marion Holiday Classic just before Christmas, and freshman Avyon Lewis is rounding into an all-around threat for the Wildcats, according to Dupuy.
“Lucious has been the most consistent,” Dupuy said. “He can shoot. He’s going to have to develop a little more in the offseason because everyone is going to be rushing out at him, so he’s going to have to develop that shot fake and one-dribble pull-up.”
Columbia played host to Purvis Tuesday night, but results were unavailable at press time. The Wildcats will play at Forrest County AHS Friday before playing host to Lawrence County Tuesday.
