Lions’ season comes to an end
An out-of-the-ordinary season, by Columbia Central standards, came to a familiar end Saturday night, as the Lions dropped their Region 4-AAA quarterfinal matchup against visiting Oakland.
The 62-44 decision, Central’s eighth consecutive defeat in the opening round of the region tourney, wrapped up a 10-19 campaign in Nick Campbell’s second year.
“Out of 29 games, we played 16 with our full roster,” Campbell said after the visiting Patriots (19-7) led from the opening tip to the final buzzer Saturday. “We had injuries, sickness — a lot of adversity. We had a tough regular season. We made a nice push in the (District 8-AAA Tournament). We got to host a region game.”
By the end, Central’s run to the No. 2 seed coming out of the district tourney looked more like the exception, particularly as Saturday’s game evolved.
Oakland (19-7) scored the game’s first six points, led 10-2 midway through the first quarter and was in control all night.
Central got down by as many as 14 before halftime, but connected on a trio of 3-pointers in the final 3:31 of the second quarter and made it a 28-24 game before De’Arre McDonald’s 3-pointer put the Patriots up by seven at intermission.
“I think their pressure kinda shocked us at the start,” Campbell said. “(But) we got some open looks, we got some offensive rebounds, we cut it to four there in the second but they got the 3 right before the half.
“They didn’t make many 3s (three), but the ones they made were back-breakers — momentum shots.”
The Patriots re-established their double-digit lead before the end of the third period and virtually maintained it, sealing the outcome with a 12-0 fourth-quarter spurt that included a dunk by D.D. Anderson and a pair by McDonald.
“When we get stops, we can really score in transition,” Oakland coach Troy Bond said following his 400th career victory. “I thought defensively we had a big run in the fourth. D.D., De’Arre and M.J. (Grant) came up with turnovers, and turned them into points. We created turnovers early, but we didn’t turn them into points.
“(Treys) were big in the first half in their favor, but I think we did a good job of taking that away in the second half, (by) speeding them up and turning them over.”
After finishing fifth during the regular season and advancing to the tourney title game, Campbell admitted Oakland was a little different opponent.
“No offense to anybody we’ve played; we played a strong schedule. But that’s by far the strongest team we’ve played all year,” he said. “They’re just so physical. Their league is physical, big, athletic.”
Oakland, which will face Blackman — a 60-39 quarterfinal winner over Coffee County — in Tuesday’s semifinal at Lawrence County, was led offensively by McDonald with a game-high 19 points. Anderson added 19, with Grant and Price Tramel each chipping in 10.
Q Martin scored 14 and Keshawn Frierson 12 to lead Columbia.
Oakland boys 62, Columbia Central 44
O 14 17 15 16 — 62
C 9 15 10 10 — 44
Oakland (62) — D.D. Anderson 14, M.J. Grant 10, De’Arre McDonald 19, Price Tramel 10, Joshua Edmunson 2, Carrington Allen 5, Antonio Patterson 2
Columbia Central (44) — Keshawn Frierson 12, DQ Mitchell 4, Devin Reynolds 9, Cam Johnson 3, Carter Szydlowski 2, Q Martin 14
3-pointers — Oakland 3 (McDonald, Tramel 2), Columbia Central 7 (Frierson 3, Reynolds 2, Johnson, Martin)