ALACHUA — Forest had a chance to tie the game late, but just like they had for most of the second half, Murkail Cray and the Columbia’s defense made one last game-winning play.
Cray came away with a steal and laid it in for one last bucket with a minute remaining to put the finishing touches on a 41-36 grind-it-out win over the Wildcats in the Hitchcock’s Challenge championship Sunday night at Legacy Park. It’s the first time the Tigers have won the tournament under coach Steve Faulkner, and they did so by holding Forest to just 12 points in the second half after trailing by two at halftime.
It wasn’t pretty but it was a fourth straight win for Columbia, which enters the second half of the season trending in the right direction. The defensive effort was outstanding, with the Tigers (9-6) winning the turnover battle 19-9.
“I’ve got some tough kids,” Faulkner said. “We don’t make the greatest decisions sometimes but they’re tough, they compete, and I gave them kudos because we had to adjust some things at halftime from what we don’t normally do, and they did it. So kudos to them. That’s just the fight that these kids have. I’m blessed to be their coach.”
Sophomore guard Shaheed White scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Tigers while senior forward Zavian Douglas finished with six points to go along with eight rebounds and four blocks. Senior guard Marlin Haywood also added seven points, five of which came in the first quarter that ended with the teams tied at 10-10.
White scored 11 of his points between the second and third quarters, helping Columbia take a 32-30 lead into the fourth in a game where neither team led by more than five. Faulkner was impressed with his performance, especially after he got on to him about a turnover late in Saturday’s 70-63 win over Jordan Christian Prep in the tournament semifinals.
“He was mad at me, I think, after (Saturday) because I got on him after a turnover late in the game,” Faulkner said. “The thing that’s going to keep him from ascending and being a real good player is just the mental toughness and being able to fight through stuff, and I think he fought through stuff. I think he made a mistake or two and took it a little bit better, but he’s got a high ceiling. He can be a really good player if he can get past that.
“I have to remind myself every once in a while that he’s a sophomore. Out of all the good guards we’ve had over the last couple of years, how good were they as sophomores? So he’s on pace to be really good if we can just work on between the ears.”
Trey Chisolm led the Wildcats (11-3) with 11 points, seven coming in the first half to help his team take a 24-22 lead into the break. Isaac Timmons and Tico Smith added eight apiece, but Smith was scoreless in the second half while Timmons scored just three points after halftime.
Chandler Davison, who Faulkner was concerned about entering the matchup along with Smith, also finished with just five points.
“Those two kids (Davison and Smith) can shoot it and they scared us a little bit,” Faulkner said. “They’re really good shooters and I worried if we pressed we’d leave them open and we did a little bit early in the game, which is why we went straight man.
“I thought (Chisolm) was really the only ball handler they had. He initiated all their offense, so we just put Marlin on him and Murkail had him for a little bit and we tried to not let him touch it as much as possible. And I think it worked because we held them to 12 points in the second half. I think he was kind of the engine that made them run and I think we kind of just eliminated him and I think that led to a victory for us.”
A turnaround jumper by point guard Zamarion Jones — his only two points — sent the Tigers to the fourth up 32-30 and they never trailed again, despite the Wildcats exchanging a couple of baskets early in the final period. Chisolm opened the fourth with a layup to tie the game, but Gavin Broomfield answered shortly after to put the Tigers back in front.
Timmons tied the game again at 34 with a putback but a pair of foul shots from White once again put Columbia in front, this time for good with 5:38 left. A free throw by Cray gave Columbia a 37-34 lead with 5:14 to go and the Wildcats didn’t score again until the 2:47 mark when Chisolm hit a jumper to pull his team within a point.
But Forest wouldn’t score again, and the Tigers closed the game out with buckets from Douglas and Cray while also running a good amount of time off the clock.
“We’re getting better,” Faulkner said. “It’s been a slower progression than I wanted but I think over these four wins that we’ve gotten in a row, I think you can see the progression. You can see the maturity a little bit, especially for kids that hadn’t played really varsity minutes until this year. Now they’ve got 15 games under their belt so they’re starting to figure it out and how things go. I think we’re growing up a little bit on the fly. I’m excited to see what we can do in January.”
Columbia will next travel to Orange Park to face the Raiders on Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.