Coach Mark Sandstrom's club bested state-ranked and ABV 2A number-one Nashville back on December 6 to win the Lebanon/Wesclin Thanksgiving Tournament.

Fast forward 24-days and the Eagles are now the champs of the Freeburg/Columbia Holiday Tournament.

Maybe it is karma, maybe they just like tournaments that have multiple hosts with a forward slash (/) the title, or maybe they just play well with ABV in the house (which happened against Nashville).

More likely this club just knows how to play well when titles are on the line.

Jonathan Holmes, the Eagles 5-foot-10 junior guard, shined in this event and grabbed the tournaments' MVP trophy in leading his team to a dominating win over highly-touted Piasa Southwestern, 68-51, on Tuesday night to claim the top prize.

Teammate Jordan Holmes, a 5-foot-8 freshman guard, led the scoring in the win over the Birds with 20-points followed by Jonathan with 17.

Coach Sandstrom believed Jordan surprised the opposition on this night as the freshman opened some eyes.

“I don’t think they knew who Jordan Holmes was,” said Coach Sandstrom. “Jordan, being a freshman, he’s got some guts. He’s a big time player and I’m just glad he’s on my team.”

Underneath the bucket, the Columbia frontcourt put together a grand effort in thwarting the inside game of Piasa Southwestern.

The tandem of 6-foot-6 forwards Collin Baumgartner and Tyler Rose of Piasa were held to just a combined 14-points as the Birds, who had won a Thanksgiving tournament themselves earlier in the year, had to settle for second place on this night.

Coach Jason Darr saw his club fall to 12-3 overall as they were led by Rose with 12-points and also a dozen by senior guard Briston Johnson.

The story of this contest began and ended with the play of the Holmes' as they not only combined to score 37-points but also showed leadership from the backcourt.

The only differences in their individual game's on this night was that Jordan hit four 3-point shots while Jonathan did more damage getting to the basket.

Both hit 8-of-9 free throws, leading a parade to the stripe that produced a 12-point advantage over the Birds as Columbia took advantage of the foul-plagued Southwestern squad.

Solving every gimmick defense that the Birds threw at them, Coach Sandstrom's team broke free with a strong second half and opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run to separate the two clubs.

Leading just 29-25 at intermission, Columbia sprinted out with four consecutive scores.

Jordan Holmes sandwiched two 3-pointers around inside baskets by junior forwards Korbin Farmer and Drew Huebner.

Huebner grabbed a rebound for a score while Farmer corralled a loose ball and scooped in for a bucket on a drive past two Piasa defenders.

When Holmes connected from the right corner with 5:30 left in the third, Coach Darr needed a timeout at 39-25 Columbia.

The Birds would get no closer than 10-points the remainder of the contest.

But in the beginning the Piasa Birds held their ground with scores by Johnson in the first quarter.

The 6-foot-3 senior netted three baskets in that opening period.

Teammate Andrew Fry, a senior guard, added eight points in the game with a big shot near the end of the frame to help Piasa stay within range.

His 3-point bomb from the right wing and a rebound basket by Johnson closed a nine-point lead of Columbia's down to 19-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Fry put together another solid quarter for Southwestern in the second.

He added five more points, with a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Columbia's Ryan Gudeman.

When Johnson added another score on an assist from senior guard Blake Lawson, the Birds were looking good trailing just 25-24 with 1:40 remaining in the half.

Farmer, who ended up third on the scoring list for Coach Sandstrom on the night, hit a 1-of-2 free throws on one trip down the floor and followed that up with an unlikely three-point play.

Driving the lane he was bumped hard by Piasa's Rose as he headed to the left side of the basket.

As he was falling to the floor he managed to launch the ball toward the goal, kissing it softly off of the backboard and in for score.

His free throw gave the Eagles a 29-24 lead.

Rose hit 1-of-2 free throws at the end of the half, cutting the Columbia lead to just four at the break.

However the third quarter, and the rest of the contest, belonged to the Eagles.

After the 10-0 start, Columbia followed that run with Jonathan Holmes scoring 11 of his 17 in the final 16-minutes.

He converted a pair of fast break baskets, one in which he grabbed a defensive rebound and sprinted the length of the court for a lay in.

He also scored in a half-court set, splitting a pair of Piasa defenders for a nice finish.

When he got another score in transition off one of Piasa's 10-turnovers, the rout was on at 49-33.

The physical game got a bit heated at the end of the quarter, with the score at 49-35.

Fry was assessed a technical foul and Columbia began the fourth quarter with two made free throws by Jonathan Holmes.

Piasa had looks on its next possession, which turned out to be a backbreaking failure.

The Birds missed two straight open 3-point looks and then, when they got their second rebound of the possession, Rose was issued a charging foul.

Columbia scored on its next possession, a fast break lay in by Huebner on a pass from senior Zach Matthews for a 53-35 lead that all but settled the outcome.

Piasa did scored on back-to-back trips with Lawson and Baumgartner hitting shots.

Unfortunately for Southwestern, it was Baumgartner's only field goal of the game.

The Eagles delivered the KO by spreading the floor and forcing Piasa out of its zone-mixes.

Columbia held the ball for 1:21 of game time and, although they ended up turning the ball over to Southwestern, put the game out of reach.

Forced to foul, Piasa paraded the Eagles to the foul line and the result was 8-of-9 made charities.

When Farmer closed his night on a fast break basket on another assist from Matthews, Columbia led 66-45.

“Our season has been a bunch of peaks and valleys,” added Coach Sandstrom. “These four days have been really good. I want to continue building. We’re a much different team than two weeks ago. We’re more composed, we understand what’s going on, we’re just more poised and we’re making fewer mistakes.”

The Eagles and Birds were of a feather on this night statistically.

Both teams shot the ball about the same.

Columbia finished 21-of-45 overall from the field (46.6 percent) while Piasa was 20-of-46 (43.4 percent).

Piasa held a slight rebounding edge (26-25) and committed 10-turnovers to the Eagles' eight.

But Columbia excelled from beyond the arc (7-of-9) and made it to the foul line more often, hitting 19-of-24.

Piasa Southwestern managed just 7-of-10, which turned out to be part of the difference in the matchup.

MVP Holmes drew praise after the game from Coach Sandstrom, as he hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor, and both of this 3-point shots.

“He has worked extremely hard on his game, coming in from the JV team last season to being a key player for us this season,” said Coach Sandstrom. “I'm really proud of him and his efforts.”

Columbia takes a week off from games as they will get back into Cahokia Conference games on January 6 when they host Carlyle and then a key battle slated at home against current league leader Breese Central on January 9.

“This was a good tournament for us and I told the kids we need to concentrate on winning the conference games now,” added Coach Sandstrom. “We have lost two games in the league and we need to be more focused on regular season conference games.”

Piasa Southwestern also has a conference (South Central) race to deal with and they have a battle coming up at home against Greenville as the 13-1 Comets are fresh off of a Vandalia Holiday Tournament championship as they won the crown on Tuesday night.

That game is set for January 6.

Ryan Unterseh topped Valmeyer (7-7) with 16-markers while teammates Zach Williams (14) and Eric Smith (11) added double-digit scoring for the win.

Lebanon (2-11) got 17-points from Zach Grob and 10-points from Noah Reinneck in the loss.

LOVEJOY 48, DUPO 42
The Tigers (1-12) fell in the eleventh place contest to open the final day at the event.