COLUMBUS — La Grange boy’s basketball took down Columbus High School Dec. 5 at the Marley Giddens Center in Columbus by a final score of 52-44. As it was a close game at halftime, La Grange found their edge by executing in crunch time with crucial playmaking.
“We made some adjustments offensively, really," said La Grange head boy’s basketball coach Trent Collier.
"We kind of opened the mid - dle up for Nate (Scott) to kind of get some penetration there for us. Defensively, we talked about just kind of extending. Not pressing, just extending our pressure. We weren't trapping, we just were extending our pressure and not
letting anybody be comfortable was kind of the adjustment. We also changed the way we were playing ball screens a little bit.
That helped us out some as well."
Leopards senior Jhase Scott tallied 10 points for the outing and contributed heavily in the later stages of the game. "We played a nice game of defense," Scott said. “Just denying the
ball."
Columbus hung in the game all the way until the end, even with some key starters having to sit out. "Just trying to find a way to play together a little bit more," said Columbus head boy’s basketball coach Troy Bohac. “Our guys battled. That’s probably our best game this season, even though we lost. We hustled on de- fense, so I can't be more proud of these boys right now. If we find a way to limit turnovers and not shoot ourselves in the foot, we'll be just fine and I think we're gonna be a really good basketball
team if we find that way." It was a tight first quarter as
Columbus had an 11-10 lead at
the end of it on a three pointer, a jumper, a bunch of free throws,
and a layup. La Grange scored their points more on field goals and a couple free throws. It went back and forth again going into halftime as the Cardinals held another one point lead at 22-21 with a couple threes and more free throws while La Grange continued to make shots near the rim as well as long range baskets.
The Leopards then stretched their lead in the third quarter at 39-32 when senior forward Nate Scott made back-to-back fast break layups and freshman Con - ner Brooks added one. After Co lumbus’ Trinity Thompson made a three pointer in the corner at the 30 second mark to put it at 39-- 35, La Grange's Clayton Cooper made a layup in the final seconds to take a 41-35 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Cardinals put in a layup
and a free throw with 4:44 to go in the fourth quarter to make it 44-42, then La Grange's Thai Scott and Brooks converted a fast
break layup each to go ahead 48--
42. Columbus followed it up with two free throws before senior Jeremiah Dillard took a huge charge at the 37 second mark to get the Leopards the ball back. La Grange senior center Reece Nygren proceeded to hit two free throws right before Scott added a pair of free throws of his own to close out a 52-44 victory.
