ALACHUA — Columbia never trailed on Saturday.
It might’ve been the Tigers’ best performance of the season too.
Behind a balancing scoring effort that saw Zavian Douglas score 14 points, Gavin Broomfield score 13 and Zamarion Jones score 11, Columbia took down Jordan Christian Prep 70-63 in the semifinals of the Hitchcock’s Challenge at Legacy Park. The victory sends the Tigers (8-6) to the championship on Sunday against Forest at 6:30 p.m.
“Probably the most complete game we’ve played all year and against a pretty good team,” Columbia coach Steve Faulkner said. “I know they’re not FHSAA and they play in the SIAA, but they had a couple of talented kids.”
One of those kids was Jeremy Padilla, who led the Seahawks (7-3) with 16 points that included four 3-pointers. Jordan Christian Prep also got 13 points from Dylan Martinez and 12 from William Montunez, but it wasn’t enough to complete a rally after being down double digits in the fourth quarter.
It was one of the better shooting days of the season for the Tigers, who made eight 3-pointers to keep the Seahawks at bay. Tucker Floyd, Marlin Haywood and Douglas each knock down a pair of 3s.
“We made a couple of plays late in the game to seal it, and we made shots,” Faulkner said. “That was the big key. We were able to cause some turnovers early, get in transition and get some easy buckets. We made eight 3s, which is definitely something that hasn’t happened a whole lot this year.”
Floyd’s two 3-pointers accounted for all six of his points while Haywood finished with nine. Murkail Cray also chipped in with eight points and Shaheed White added seven more.
“It was really balanced,” Faulkner said of his team’s scoring. “I was shocked when I looked at the book. I get so absorbed in the game, but it felt like any time we needed a big shot, it seemed like it was a different guy. We had a bunch of guys step up in different scenarios. We worked with something different offensively. They had a big, 6’8 or 6’9 kid that we tried to pull from the basket, and it worked. Zavian Douglas was able to knock down a couple of shots, a couple of 3s that was able to pull him out and that opened up the paint for us to be able to penetrate and create in the paint.”