When the Columbia Academy Cougars (8-10) are at their best, they are able to establish what they want to do early in the game.
They excel when they are able to score in transition and have a size advantage in the post with 6-foot-6 senior Owen Harper and
6-foot-5 senior Jay Stringer. That was the case Friday night at Columbia Academy as the Cougars got a fast start by consistently getting to the rim and converting easy looks, beating Lamar Christian 79-50.
“When we can get out on the floor and run, execute even our secondary (fast) breaks and get the ball in the right spots, then things go a lot better for us,” head coach Dale Watts said. “Lamar Christian was very small and was a very guard-oriented team, and they didn’t have an answer for Harper and Bird (Stringer). That opened up the guards, too. Getting rebounds often times is what initiates the fast break.”
Harper led Columbia Academy with 23 points and even got the crowd into it with a dunk, setting the tone in the first quarter. Tate Duncan had one of his better offensive games this season with 21 points, and Ethan Stringer made some shots from the perimeter to balance out the Cougars offense with 15 points.
The only offense Lamar Christian could generate was the hot shooting of Cole Needham, who had a game-high 26 points. Other than his output, the Cougars size advantage overwhelmed Lamar Christian.
Saturday night was a different story altogether for the Cougars, however. Columbia Academy was the team with the disadvantage as Parklane Academy used a strong third-quarter run to beat the Cougars 56-34.
“I told them at half we need to make a couple stops to get back in the game. It went just the other way because we didn’t make a couple stops,” Watts said. “(Parklane) made a (big) run, so (the deficit) went from 8 to 12 to 14 (points), then we’ve already made our bed hard. There’s no backing up then, so you can’t do what we would have had to do to win the game.”
While the Cougars big men matched up well, Parklane simply had more perimeter players with athleticism than Columbia Academy.
“We just couldn’t match up with them. We could match up in a couple spots, but we had a hard time matching up with their guard play,” Watts said. “We just couldn’t match up with them defensively, whether we were in man or zone. They have a very talented team. They just had way more balance on the floor than we did.”
Ras Pace led the Marion County private school with 16 points, while Harper had 11. Newlon Gillihan, who also had a big game the last time the two teams matched up, led Parklane with 14 points, followed Tyler Ramshur with 13.
The Cougars were supposed to match up with Salem on the road Tuesday night, but it was called off due to the expected winter weather. As of press deadline Tuesday, the game had not been officially rescheduled. Watts said the game might be played Thursday night, but he was waiting to hear back from the Salem coaching staff.
Columbia Academy, if the Salem game is not rescheduled, will return to the court Friday night at home, playing host to Sumrall (8-7) with tipoff expected at 7. The Cougars will be on the road Saturday night, taking on Centreville Academy at 6.
Pictured Above: Aaron Thomas drives baseline past a Lamar Christian defender. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
