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Columbia guard Zamarion Jones drives into the lane against St. John Paul II during Thursday's preseason game. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)
Columbia couldn’t buy a bucket through three quarters.
Then all of the sudden in the fourth, the Tigers caught fire and left the floor eight minutes later with a victory in their preseason finale.
Braiden North scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, including two of his four 3-pointers, and Murkail Cray hit two more 3s in the final period to help Columbia rally from as many as 11 down to beat St. John Paull II 49-42 at home Thursday night. The Tigers outscored the Panthers 22-6 in the fourth after North hit a jumper to pull them within nine at the end of the third.
Columbia bounced back after losing to Raines 58-52 in its preseason opener Tuesday due to 28 turnovers. That number dropped to 16 in Thursday’s win.
“I thought after Tuesday we played pretty well outside of the turnovers and lost, and tonight I thought we played awful and won,” Columbia head coach Steve Faulkner said. “But mainly the awful part was the shooting. I thought defensively we did a pretty good job. They had 23 at halftime and we held them to 42, so defensively I think we’re OK. We still have to get better, but we’re OK. Tonight we had open shots but it was one of those nights. We just couldn’t make a shot, but then we finally got hot in the fourth quarter. I’m still trying to figure out what kind of team I’ve got.”
Faulkner had two welcome additions on the floor Thursday in junior guards Zamarion Jones and Marlin Haywood, who just finished football season. Jones’ play from the point guard position was huge in the rally as he finished with four of his eight assists in the final quarter on a night where he also had six points, five rebounds and three steals.
The Tigers opened the fourth on a 19-0 run that was kicked off with a 3 from North off a pass from Jones. North then made a layup before Cray, Haywood and Cray again hit consecutive 3s on assists from Jones, who then made a layup and found North for another 3 to make it 46-36.
Faulkner expects Jones to share the point guard duties this season with senior Ka’marion Bryant, who finished with four points.
“He gives us an additional ball handler,” Faulkner said of Jones. “(Bryant) did a pretty good job the other night, but he was the only one that was confident enough to handle the basketball. Now the two of them late in the game on the floor makes me feel a lot more comfortable. You can tell Z is trying to be a playmaker, create things. He made a bunch of passes to open shooters. They just didn’t make as many of them as I wanted to. He’s playing with an ultra confidence.”
Faulkner went 15 guys deep on his bench Thursday as he tries to settle on a rotation ahead of the regular season. While he knows he can count on Jones and Haywood (who scored seven points), there’s a few other faces he’s looking for production from.
Faulkner said he feels he can count on Bryant and senior forward Justice Kelly, who started and finished with five rebounds and two steals. But it’s two other names Faulkner is hoping for consistent production from this season — senior forward Noah Wilson and junior forward Zavien Douglas, who transferred from Eastside.
Wilson had 13 points and Douglas had 10 points and 16 rebounds in the loss to Raines, but neither matched that production against St. John Paul II. Douglas had five points and five rebounds amid foul trouble, while Wilson had two points with no made field goals.
The Tigers will need both Wilson and Douglas to bring production night in and night out alongside Jones, Haywood, Kelly and Bryant this season due to so many departures from last year’s team that reached the regional finals.
“I think Justice and (Bryant) will bring the leadership and toughness that we need,” Faulkner said. “Zavien and Noah both should really help us, but it’s the consistency. Zavien got in foul trouble tonight and didn’t really do too much. Noah has just got to produce. He and I have had exhaustive conversations about how to be more effective. It’s time to start doing it. That’s what we need out of Noah. If we can get the Noah that I know can be there, I think it’s going to help us tremendously.”
Despite so much inexperience up and down the roster, Faulkner still expects Columbia to compete for the District 2-5A championship this season. The Tigers blew out Rickards 68-38 to win the title last year, and they were the only teams from the district to make the playoffs.
But Rickards finished 13-14, while Middleburg, Ridgeview, Clay and Baker County combined to go 30-68. Faulkner believes those teams will all be better this season, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the district once again comes down to Columbia and Rickards.
“The expectations here are to win a district title,” Faulkner said. “That’s what I talk to them about all the time. One of the things we talk about is that the standard has changed here in the last five years. We’re going to make the playoffs, that’s the standard. Win in the playoffs and win a district title. I think we can. The one thing I keep trying to convince them of all the time is, ‘listen, you’re not supposed to be as good right now. Nobody wants to be good in November. We want to be good in February.’ So growing pains now. I’m probably going to need to shave my head a little more often so we don’t see the grays, but they’re a great group. I love them. They work their tails off, we’ve just got to continue to get better and that’s the name of the game.”
Columbia opens the regular season on Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m. against East Ridge in the Team Mighty Ike Shootout at Williston.