12-06-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
TRENTON - In taking down the top-ranked team in the state in 2A, this young team of Columbia Eagles picked up a huge win.

Head coach Mark Sandstrom saw his young club rally from 12-points down in the third quarter to force overtime and eventually pull away in the second extra session for a 67-61 victory to take the title of the Lebanon/Wesclin Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday night at Wesclin.

Lead by 21-points from lanky 6-foot-6 senior Korbin Farmer on the inside and 17-points from 5-foot-10 junior Jonathan Holmes from the perimeter; Columbia hung tough with the highly regarded Hornets and took control late in the second overtime to improve to 3-1 in the event and overall, winning the championship on the head-to-head tiebreaker with the win over Nashville.

“We wanted to pressure the ball and make it a war on the glass and we did that for 40-minutes of play,” added Coach Sandstrom. “I'm very proud of them. We are overall very young but we battled. This group can make plays and we made plays tonight. They are extra competitive. We played a lot of them last year as sophomores.”

The Hornets (3-1) and head coach Brad Weathers had chances, especially in the third quarter, to claim this championship but Columbia never went away.

When asked about his offense being “out of sync” Coach Weathers responded with “that is an understatement.”

“The thing I am most concerned with was our lack of communication on the offensive end,” said Coach Weathers. “Especially in crunch time. We just had a heck of a time running things that we do on a regular basis and that has to be corrected. We missed shots early but we were getting good looks. But we need to be much better and coordinated on the offensive end.”

Royce Newman, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, topped the Hornets with 22-points on the inside.

Six-foot-seven senior Dylan Mueller added 13-points while senior guard Daniel Thorson added nine.

Statistically speaking this game was pretty even.

However one figure stood out. Columbia managed to out-rebound the larger Hornets 28-26 with ten of the boards coming on the offensive end.

Heading into the contest, Nashville had taken care of business in beating Madison, Wesclin and Lebanon on the way to a 3-0 mark while Columbia had a hiccup in losing to the host Warriors, 58-47, last Saturday.

But Coach Sandstrom's club battled on Saturday night and came away with a big win for the program.

Columbia stayed even with the Hornets throughout a physical first half by grabbing seven of those ten offensive rebounds.

The bad part of that equation is to have that many offensive second chances, Columbia had to miss a lot of shots (16) in the first half.

However in the first 16-minutes, the contest saw eight lead changes.

Columbia closed the first quarter with a pair of baskets, on a lob to Farmer for a bucket in close and a drive to the goal by 6-foot-3 junior Drew Huebner, to close the frame at 12-11 Eagles.

Five different Hornets scored one field goal each in the second quarter.

Newman, Mueller, Thorson and teammates Hunter Cooper and Troy Pedtke each put in shots during the stanza.

Newman grabbed his own miss on the offensive end for a score and Mueller converted a fast break chance with a lay in with :28 left to give the Hornets a 21-20 halftime edge.

Nashville got a big run in the third quarter that made the impression that the Hornets had gotten their act together at halftime and were making a championship run.

Following a 3-point basket by Holmes, which gave Columbia a 23-21 lead just seconds into the second half, Nashville scored the next 14-points.

Newman began the romp by muscling into the paint for a score while being fouled junior guard Ryan Gudeman.

His converted three-point play got the Hornets rolling.

Mueller scored twice in the run Newman added another shot from mid-range and again converted a three-point play, while being fouled by Huebner (his third personal), at the 3:17 mark.

His made free throw gave Nashville its biggest lead at 35-23.

“At one point (in the third quarter) we looked like we had the game under control but give them (Columbia) credit, they shot the ball well, especially when they needed to. They played really hard and I thought we looked tired,” said Coach Weathers. “I know they are quicker than us in spots on the floor but it always seemed like they were a step behind.”

A lot of teams, playing against a state-ranked and physically talented team like Nashville would fade away at this point, however this game-ready, hard-nosed crew from Columbia came right back with a burst of its own.

The Eagles netted three consecutive 3-points bombs with Holmes nailing two of the trifecta's.

When his second shot from beyond the arc found the mark Columbia trailed 37-32, which forced Coach Weathers to burn a timeout.

Two additional free throws by Farmer cut the Nashville lead to just 37-34 heading to the fourth quarter.

“This was a good win and a good battle, especially how we did it. We got down in the third quarter and the kids 'owned up,'” said Coach Sandstrom. “The kids last year, we would have folded. But tonight we battled back. That was a good win.”

Columbia's 6-foot senior Zach Mathews scored nine points on the night for Coach Sandstrom by nailing three 3-point shots.

Two of those bombs came in a fourth quarter run that got the Eagles back the lead.

His second one, with 2:46 remaining in regulation, gave Columbia a 46-41 advantage.

Trailing 50-45 with 1:30 remaining, Thorson made a 3-point shot from the top of the circle that hit every part of the rim before falling through the net.

Two free throws by Newman tied the game in the final minute.

Farmer, after being fouled by Mueller, hit the second of two shots for a 51-50 advantage with :25.1 left.

Mueller, in turn, got fouled by Farmer just seconds later.

The 6-foot-7 senior also converted just 1-of-2.

Columbia got the final shot of regulation but Holmes, driving the lane, missed his off-balanced shot as the two clubs headed to what turned out to be the first of two extra periods to decide the championship.

Nashville took a quick lead in overtime with Mueller converting a lay up on a back door cut to the basket and Newman hitting 1-of-2 from the line for a 54-51 lead.

Newman scored twice more in the session but Columbia responded with a pair of 3-point shots by Holmes and Gudeman.

Trailing 59-57, Farmer converted a nice pass from Gudeman for a lay in to send the teams to a second overtime tied at 59-all.

Columbia got control of the contest and eventually the outcome in the second OT.

Huebner and Farmer made 3-of-4 free throws and then Farmer scored on a fast break on a nice pass from Holmes to give Columbia a 64-61 lead.

Another free throw from Gudeman and a basket in the lane by Huebner closed out the scoring.

Farmer put an exclamation point on the win by blocking two consecutive shot attempts by Newman in the final seconds as the clock ran out on the Hornets championship chances.

The Eagles finished the game hitting 20-of-48 (41.6 percent) from the field overall but were deadly from beyond the arc, converting 9-of-18.

The Hornets hit for 46 percent on the night (23-of-50) while hitting just 3-of-12 from deep.

Both teams struggled offensively with each turning the ball over 16-times.

Columbia was a bit better from the foul line as they hit 18-of-24 while Nashville was 12-of-17.

Both clubs head back into action after a strong week of games.

Nashville will travel to Anna-Jonesboro next Friday and will play host to Waterloo Gibault Catholic on Saturday.

“We did not rebound well,” added Coach Weathers, talking about giving up seven first half offensive rebounds to the Eagles. “That added to the issue, especially early. We do have problems at times with quickness and they have good guard play. That's a good ball club out there. But obviously we had our opportunities but we didn't take advantage of it.”

The Eagles play host to Wesclin on Friday then Pleasant Plains comes to town on Saturday.

“The Wesclin game the other night was disappointing but we came back with a big effort,” added Coach Sandstrom.

Columbia (67) – Huebner 3 0 4-4 10, Gudeman 3 1 1-4 10, Jordan Holmes 0 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Holmes 1 5 0-0 17, Mathews 0 3 0-0 9, Long 0 0 0-0 0, Farmer 4 0 13-16 21, Obregon 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-9, FT-18-24, PF-17.
Nashville (61) – Heggemeier 0 1 0-0 3, Bultman 1 0 3-4 5, Thorson 3 1 0-0 9, Pedtke 2 0 0-0 4, Mueller 4 0 5-8 13, Cooper 1 1 0-0 5, Newman 9 0 4-5 22.
2FG-20, 3FG-3, FT-12-17, PF-18.
Fouled Out – Mathews - Columbia.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Jaime Cotto saw his 1A club get 22-points from 6-foot-1 senior Tyjee Deal in the victory while 5-foot-7 senior Dayman Warren added 21-points.

Madison held a 36-27 halftime lead but pulled away with a 13-3 third quarter for a 49-30 advantage after three periods of play.

Weclin (2-2) and head coach Brent Brede were topped by 6-foot-1 senior Justin Goff and 15-points from 6-foot-2 junior Jared Timmermann.

Madison (71) – Haynes 3 0 1-3 7, Glover 2 0 5-8 9, Warren 7 0 7-15 21, Wilson 2 0 0-0 4, Crowder 3 0 0-0 6, Deal 3 4 4-4 22, Allen 1 0 0-1 2.
2FG-21, 3FG-4, FT-17-31, PF-18.
Wesclin (61) – Br. Bernhardt 2 0 1-3 5, Goff 5 2 6-6 22, Combs 0 0 2-2 2, Steenbergen 0 2 2-4 8, M. Thoele 0 0 0-0 0, Timmermann 0 5 0-0 15, Stephens 4 0 1-4 9..
2FG-11, 3FG-9, FT-12-19, PF-22.
Fouled Out – Br. Bernhardt - Wesclin.
Technical Fouls – None.