SAN ANTONIO — Columbus boy’s basketball went to the state championship final game March 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio and lost to Tatum High School by a final score of 84-49.
Tatum made a bunch of transition layups throughout the game and also hit long range shots, which was too much for Columbus to keep up with as Tatum buckled down on defense as well. "We knew going into this game it was going to be a tough battle," said Columbus head boy’s basketball coach Troy Bohac. “They’ve played twice as many games as we had, so we knew that they were gonna be a little more experienced. We knew they were gonna be physical. We knew that rebounding and turnovers were gonna be the deciding factor in today's game. They came ready to play, they rebounded well, and we showed bright progress for a while, but they answered back pretty quick, so congratulations to Tatum and everything they did." Columbus senior guard Grayson Rigdon had an outstanding season, scoring in large amounts of 30, 40, and even 50 points per game at many times this season.
"Just playing with great teammates," Rigdon said on his career at Columbus. "Unselfish teammates. Just having great coaches to push me, great supporting cast, it just makes it all easy for me to have the success I had." The Cardinals took their only lead of the game in the first minute and a half of the first quarter after three free throws from sophomore guard Braylon Fisher made it 3-2 with 6:35 to go. From that point on, Tatum went on a surge and scored 13-straight points to take a 20-6 lead with about a minute to play, which led to more scoring from Tatum and a 28-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
A layup from Rigdon made it 34-12 in the second quarter after a layup, two free throws, and a basket in the paint from the Eagles in the first minute or so. Tatum's scoring for the rest of the quarter consisted of a bunch of short baskets, a few free throws and a three-pointer at the 35 second mark to go into the locker room with a 50-19 advantage at halftime.
Columbus hit a few more shots in the third quarter, but Tatum had too big of a lead for the Cardinals to get back in the game. The Eagles slowed the ball down more in the third quarter and kept their large lead with more short baskets, making for a 61-36 lead at the end of the third quarter. Tatum made more layups in the fourth quarter in order to help win the game handedly at 84-49.
