Although the Columbia Academy Cougars still look to be a contender in Class 3A, they are having to play through some warts in district play.
The Cougars (8-4, 3-2) have consistently played good defense and been excellent in transition, but their half-court offense is what is holding them back.
It didn’t matter Friday when Amite School Center came to town as the Cougars blew out ASC 82-20. Cody Fortenberry and Joseph Hasselvander both narrowly missed out on double-doubles with Fortenberry tallying 23 points and nine rebounds and Hasselvander 18 points and nine boards. Hays Carley was also in double figures with 12 points, and Jeffrey Pennington had nine.
At Wayne Academy Saturday, though, offense was hard to come by for the Cougars in a 50-43 loss. Head coach Dale Watts said the Cougars turned the ball over entirely too much and really struggled in their half-court offense.
“Our shooting percentage wasn’t very good and neither was our decision making, so we really need to work on those things,” he said. “If we’re not shooting the ball well, then we have to really be more selective. We have to take the shots we know we can make, and right now we haven’t identified those individually or collectively.”
Fortenberry led the Cougars with 17 points and 13 rebounds in a double-double, while Robert Johnson had 10 points and five boards and Carley eight points.
CA’s best offense remains its transition game, but Watts said as the season continues opponents are going to figure out how to slow their transition offense. Succeeding in half-court sets will become even more important at that point. One of the issues the Cougars have been facing is opponents opting not to cover Johnson on the perimeter, essentially creating 4-on-5 scenarios. Watts said Johnson has shown the ability in practice to make shots and that he believes the athletic forward can get the job done well enough to force defense to respect him on the perimeter.
“Robert has got to extend his game,” he said. “I do think Robert has a mid-range game that we have to give him confidence in so that he can attack with that. With social media and Hudl, everyone has film on everybody so there are no secrets.”
Watts said Pennington, who is CA’s best perimeter shooter, is getting closer to returning to full strength, which would be a big help. He added within his eight-man rotation, he’s been searching for the correct five-man unit that complements one another well to close out games with.
“The problem is it takes you too long to find that five on a given night, and you’ve done dug yourself a hole,” he said.
The veteran coach added he believes the Cougars have enough variety amongst their players to eventually be successful in the half court consistently. Between having perimeter shooters, players who can make mid-range shots and guys who can finish inside, he thinks it will all come together at some point.
The Cougars will play host to Bowling Green Saturday, which will mark the end of their first trip through their district slate.
“With two losses, that’s a big game because they’re the No. 1 seed right now and haven’t been beaten in district.”
They will take on Oak Forest Academy on the road Monday before taking off for the holidays. CA will return Jan. 2 when PCS comes to Columbia.
