Turnovers proved to be Columbia High's undoing on its way to a 76-59 SW Washington 1A League Trico Division loss to Stevenson here last Thursday.
The Bruins (0-3 in Trico, 5-6 overall) turned the ball over 31 times in the second through fourth quarters and the Bulldogs (3-1, 7-6) capitalized.
After falling behind 30-23 midway through the second quarter, Stevenson went on an 11-1 run to close out the first half with a 34-31 lead.
Stevenson took the lead for good on a 3-point play by point guard Jereth Robinson with 2 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Robinson, last year's 2A Trico player of the year, finished the night with a game-high 25 points. (He got to the free-throw line for 21 attempts and made 15.)
The Bulldogs carried the momentum over to the second half. Jared Hinzman netted back-to-back 3-pointers at the outset of the third quarter to start a 12-point surge that put Stevenson in control, 46-31.
Columbia, which struggled with its ball-handling against the Bulldogs' pressure defense, aided Stevenson's cause by turning the ball over six times in the first 1:50 of the period.
The Bruins didn't get their first basket of the second half until the 5:26 mark, when Darnell Douglas scored off an inbounds play.
CHS eventually got back to within eight points (49-41) when Kent Shelley hit a pull-up jumper on the fastbreak. That was the end of an 8-1 run by the Bruins that included 3-point plays by Shelley and Greg Tellez.
Stevenson withstood the CHS rally, however. And when Robinson scored off the fastbreak near the end of the quarter, the Bulldogs led 58-43.
In the final frame, Stevenson pulled away and led by as many as 21 points before CHS closed the game out with a 10-6 run.
Hinzman added 20 points and Troy Stump chipped in with 10 for the Bulldogs, who moved into a first-place tie with Castle Rock atop the Trico standings.
Shelley's 15 points paced the Bruins, who also got 14 apiece from Douglas and Tellez.
Douglas and Tellez combined for 15 points in the first quarter to propel CHS to a 21-16 lead.
The Bruins trailed 16-11 with just over 2 minutes remaining in the opening period but finished with a bang.
Douglas netted his second 3-pointer with 2:09 to go to ignite a 10-0 run that ended when Shelley scored off an assist by Tellez.
Columbia's biggest lead of the game was eight points: 26-18 on Douglas' third--and last--3-pointer and 28-20 on a baseline jumper by Tellez.
At Kalama 58, Columbia 51:
The third quarter has been unkind to the Bruins this season.
Kalama continued Columbia's third-quarter struggles Monday night with a 20-2 third-quarter run that turned a close game into a near-rout.
With the loss, Columbia fell to 0-4 in Trico standings and 5-7 overall.
The game itself played out in a familiar fashion for CHS.
Columbia held an 18-11 advantage at the end of one quarter but lost its way in the second as Kalama rallied to take a 28-26 edge.
In the third quarter, the game got away completely from the Bruins. By the end of the period, the Chinooks owned a commanding 48-28 lead.
Only a strong finish enabled the Bruins to bring the final margin of defeat under double digits.
Thomas Jeter scored a season-high 14 points to lead CHS. Darnell Douglas and Kent Shelley each added 11 points.
At Castle Rock 57, Columbia 43:
The Rockets used a 22-9 third-quarter surge Jan. 2 to subdue the Bruins.
That big run allowed Castle Rock (2-1, 6-2) to extend a 24-21 halftime lead to 46-30 entering the fourth quarter.
Darnell Douglas and Greg Tellez each scored 13 points to lead the Bruins (0-2, 5-5).
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