With their best player going down for the year in the regular season finale, the Columbia Wildcats stumbled in the Region 8-3A semifinals but bounced back in the consolation game to earn the No. 3 seed from the district in the Class 3A playoffs.
The Wildcats (8-15) played Yazoo County (17-11) in the first round of the playoffs on the road Tuesday night, but results were unavailable at press time.
Columbia head coach Charlie James said Monday that the Panthers are a scrappy team, but he likes his team’s chances.
“They like to trap and press a lot, but if you can handle that over the top you should be able to have success against them,” he said. “They got some playmakers so hopefully we can match that.”
With center Jaheim Oatis out for Columbia with an ankle injury, the Panthers are similar to the Wildcats in size and don’t have a big man, which would’ve been a mismatch for Columbia with Oatis but without it’s pretty even.
“We match up pretty well with them. Looking at them on film, nobody really stood out head and shoulders above everyone. I was trying to compare them with my team, and it looks like it should be an interesting matchup,” James said.
In the district semifinals Feb. 13 at Columbia, the Wildcats were within six points early in the fourth quarter against Tylertown but faltered down the stretch to lose 70-51.
“They got hot and we just couldn’t match their scoring, but overall I think we did pretty good,” James said.
Josh Brown had a breakout performance for the Wildcats with a career-high 20 points while making four 3-pointers. DaQwan Jones added 10 points, Marlic Smith chipped in nine and Tyler Quinn had eight.
Columbia bounced back Friday night in the consolation game to beat Seminary 54-49.
Pictured Above: Columbia's Josh Brown release a long shot at the end of the third quarter Feb. 13 against Tylertown. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
