Columbia High’s boys basketball team got its long-awaited matchup with 1A Trico-leading Kings’ Way here last Thursday.
It was a makeup of a game originally scheduled to be played first on Jan. 10, then on Jan. 18. Winter storms and postponements pushed the matchup to Jan. 26.
King’s Way quickly established dominance over CHS and held a 16-7 lead after one quarter.
Two minutes into the second quarter, the Knights found holes in the Bruins’ interior defense for some easy baskets.
King’s Way pushed its lead to 24-12 before William Gross completed a 3-point play around the 5-minute mark to cut the deficit to 24-18.
That was a close as CHS got the rest of the game.
King’s Way countered the home team’s six-point run with a 12-point run that extended its lead to 36-18.
Trenton Howard breached the run with a 3-pointer that made it 36-21 with less than 1:25 to go in the half. The score at halftime was 37-23.
The Knights lowered the boom on the Bruins in the third quarter.
They stretched a 43-27 lead to 49-27. Reed Davis’s 3-pointer cut into the run and made it 49-30.
King’s Way continued to have its way against whatever defense CHS threw at it and closed out the period with an 8-2 run that ran its lead to 57-32.
Columbia won the fourth quarter, outscoring King’s Way’s reserves 24-11 to get within 12 inside the last two minutes.
Gross’s 17 points led the Bruins, who dropped to 2-2 in Trico play (with six games to go) and 5-6 overall.
Lewis Rowlen added eight points to the Bruins’ ledger, and Brady Trullinger had seven to go with 10 assists and four steals.
Zach Walker contributed six points, Davis and Howard chipped in five apiece, and Tylan Webster and Eduardo Oriz each netted four.
Gross and Webster shared the team lead in rebounding; each collected five.
Team-wise, the Bruins shot a cool 36% from the field (20/56, with 14 assists), despite committing only eight turnovers.
A large number of their shot attempts (24) came from 3-point range, and late in the game particularly as they tried to mount a comeback; they made six total.
CHS shot better from the foul line (71%) but got limited attempts (14, with 10 makes).
King’s Way had one of those nights where a lot of things went just right.
The Knights made 52% of their court shots (23/44, with 17 assists, but only 4/14 from the 3-point line) and 82% from the foul line (18/22).
Moreover, they out-rebounded the Bruins, 35-18, and limited the home team to eight offensive rebounds.
At King’s Way 75, Columbia 50: The Bruins’ rematch with the Knights last Friday went sideways in the first quarter.
King’s Way rang up 21 points and held CHS to 2 in the opening eight minutes en route to the lopsided win.
The score stood at 40-20 at halftime and 55-35 through three quarters.
Brady Trullinger scored 17 points and William Gross had 15 for the Bruins.
Lewis Rowlen added six, Reed Davis and Trenton Howard each pitched in four, and Zach Walker chipped in three.
Trullinger and Gross shared the team lead in assists with Howard; all had two scoring passes.
Davis led CHS with five rebounds, and Rowlen collected four.
Trullinger and Gross topped the team in steals, with three apiece, while Tylan Webster chalked up a team-best two blocked shots.
Columbia, which had only 10 turnovers, shot 32% from the field (16/50 overall, 5/17 on 3s, with 10 assists) and 59% from the charity stripe (13/22).
Trullinger sank 3 of 6 from the 3-point line to account for more than half of his points, while Gross put in 6-of-7 free throws.
King’s Way hit on 48% of its field-goal tries (27/56 combined, 5/18 on 3s, with 15 assists) and 71% of its free throws (17/24).
Moreover, King’s Way again out-rebounded CHS by a wide margin, 44-23.
Center Matt Garrison led the way for the Knights. He scored 27 points and gathered 20 rebounds. Joe Mills added 21 points and 11 re-bounds.
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