The Columbia Wildcats have had a rough start to their basketball season so far, but there is a lot more room for optimism than their 1-5 record suggests.
Columbia has had a string of bad luck to open the season, but its optics are looking up as district play nears. The Wildcats began the season without three of their best five players — Jaheim Oatis, Daqwan Jones and Kentrel Bullock — because of football, but the injury bug has compounded their absence.
Darius Stewart, who was often Columbia’s second best player last year and was scoring a team-high 19 points per game to begin the season, broke his leg Nov. 14 against Hazlehurst and is expected to be out until mid-January. Jones broke a finger in the second round of the football playoffs and is fighting his way back to rejoin the team, which will either be this week or next. Oatis put up a career-high 25 points in his first game against Wayne County Dec. 3, only to go out with a knee injury that sidelined him against South Pike Friday. He is expected to return soon, according to head coach Charlie James. And Bullock got banged up against Wayne County as well but should be good to go this week.
“I got a few guys injured, but once we get them back we should look a lot better,” James said. “I think we’ve played well at times and have played inexperienced at times. Once we get everybody back playing together and get the experience, I really think they can play pretty decent.”
James added he believes Columbia’s identity this season is going to revolve around Oatis’ play in the paint. At 6-foot-6 and around 340 pounds, Oatis is bigger than just about everybody the Wildcats will see this year, but he also has the athleticism and quickness of a much smaller player. He showed last year to have above-average passing chops from the low post as well and can hit cutters in the lane or kick out to open shooters on the perimeter.
“Jaheim will be our strength, and we’ll try to put some shooters around the floor. Hopefully we can get to that point at some point this year,” James said. “He’s going to be a matchup nightmare for most people night in and night out. We’re going to look to exploit that.”
While the Wildcats graduated their best player in several years from last year’s team — TJ Monroe, who is now playing at Copiah Lincoln Community College — they have the potential to be even better if everyone stays healthy. Jones was by far West Marion’s best player a year ago before transferring to Columbia for this season and is an uber-athletic combo guard at 6-foot-3. Stewart appeared to take a big leap forward with his game before getting hurt and has great size and leaping ability as a 6-foot-2 shooting guard. Plus Columbia welcomed a shooter to the rotation that could unlock a lot of possibilities for its offense.
Chandler Carver, while just 4-of-18 from behind the arc to start the year, has a smooth shooting stroke and should see a lot more open looks when the Wildcats get back to full strength. Peyton Anderson has also been soaking up minutes with Stewart and Oatis out and has the versatility to play both inside and out at 6-foot-2.
“They’re both sophomores and have been improving night in and night out, and I think throughout the year they’ll continue to improve. Even though we got a couple people injured right now, them being able to get these valuable minutes could be a blessing for us,” James said.
Columbia came out flat in the first quarter Friday at home against South Pike, falling behind 14-0 before scoring a point and going into the second quarter down 18-2. But the Wildcats defense woke up, held the Eagles scoreless the entire quarter and went into halftime with a manageable 18-9 deficit. The two teams played to an even draw in the second half, leading to South Pike’s 40-31 victory, but James was pleased with his short-handed team’s will to fight back.
“South Pike came in and got us away from taking shots early. We went into the game really outmanned, but I was proud of the effort and fight my kids showed. I thought we really outplayed them (from the second quarter on),” James said. “We just weren’t able to make a shot or two here and there, and I thought that was the difference.”
Carver led the Wildcats with eight points while canning two triples, Anderson added seven points and Ziquae Amos knocked two three-pointers as well. Despite playing limited minutes Marlic Smith, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, blocked four shots.
The Wildcats played at North Forrest Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time. They will return home Saturday night as they play host to East Marion (0-7) in a rivalry game.
Pictured Above: Columbia's Keion Jackson prepares to leap for a layup in transition against South Pike. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
