While everything isn’t perfect quite yet, Columbia Academy (13-7) is battle tested and ready for what lies ahead, having experienced several nail biters against the best competition MAIS has to offer and fighting through the injury bug.
Although CA head coach Dale Watts said his star isn’t back to 100 percent yet, Tate Duncan led the Cougars to their 13th win of the season Jan. 8 at home against Pontchartrain Christian. The 6-foot-4 lefty had a game-high 29 points in the 75-55 contest and was complemented by Ras Pace’s 19 points and Cody Fortenberry’s 14. Pontchartrain is a homeschool athletic program based out of southeast Louisiana.
“They had a few really, really good athletes. Their team wasn’t that good, though, and we were able to handle that,” Watts said.
Columbia Academy remained at home Jan. 10 and lost a triple-overtime thriller to Lamar School 63-60. Pace led the Cougars with 26 points, while Duncan had 18 and Ethan chipped in 10.
“Lamar got three new kids in. One of them is a big, tall kid, who is about (6-foot-6), and we got in a little foul trouble and had a hard time defending him. He scored a lot of points in the paint late in the game,” Watts said. “We had our chances to win it, and they had chances to win it where it was tied in overtime and they had the ball last. Then it was tied, and we had the ball last and didn’t score.”
Watts added he believes the Lamar loss will help some of the rotation players grow up because he used different players in different situations, and they all were forced into pressure-packed moments.
The following night the Cougars traveled to Madden to take on a talent-laden Leake Academy squad and struggled to finish in a 62-51 loss. Duncan led the offense with 21 points, and Pace and Stringer each added 12.
“We may have been a little tired, but it was a real good game. Leake is a fast-break team, and they were ahead of us by about 15 points,” Watts said. “We closed the gap in the fourth quarter and got it down to a one-possession game and had the ball. We made a bad decision that ended up in a long rebound for them. It went from one possession to now we’re two possessions down, and we never could really overcome that.”
Watts said he tries to practice late-game scenarios, but what is holding back the Cougars is their perimeter man-to-man defense. He added the ultimate answer is to get the lead and slow the game down.
“You have to be mentally tough enough to control the ball,” he explained. “When we get in those situations — if we could’ve controlled the ball in the Lamar game when we were up one with 30 seconds to go with the ball, we could have won. But they ended up fouling us, and we made one free throw and missed the other one, and they tied it to go into another overtime. If we can get mentally tough enough to handle the ball and handle the pressure, that’s what we have to be able to do.”
While they still have some work to do, Watts said he believes the Cougars are coming close to hitting their stride.
“I do think our guys are coming around,” he said. “Tate is getting a little stronger every game while he’s fighting with his back injury and still isn’t 100 percent. But we need him out there, and he’s doing the best he can. Hopefully he continues to get better, and the role players can really step up.”
The Cougars hosted Salem Tuesday night, but results were unavailable at press time. They will travel to Jackson to take on Hillcrest Christian Friday night then host Centreville Academy Saturday.
Pictured Above: CA's Ras Pace soars to the rim against Hillcrest Christian. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
