PONTE VEDRA — Maddox Palmer’s frustration finally boiled over.
After being harassed defensively all night, the Ponte Vedra star barreled into Columbia guard Shaheed White as he drove to the basket. It was an obvious offensive foul, but Palmer was over it, arguing it fiercely before receiving a technical foul late in the fourth quarter.
Palmer wasn’t done talking either. He continued to follow the official after he made the call, daring to eject him before the official finally did with a second tech.
It was the end of a dreadful night for the Jacksonville commit, one where the Tigers dominated the Sharks from start to finish.
Behind 15 points from Kadrian Wilson and 14 more from White, No. 6 seed Columbia stunned No. 2 seed Ponte Vedra 57-43 in the Region 1-5A semifinals Saturday night. It was a stellar defensive performance from the Tigers, who led wire to wire while holding Palmer to just five points.
The victory sends Columbia to the Region 1-5A finals against top-seeded Fleming Island, which defeated No. 4 seed Booker T. Washington 85-64, on Feb. 28. It’ll be the Tigers’ fourth trip to the Elite 8 under head coach Steve Faulkner since 2019, a trip that comes with redemption after Ponte Vedra beat them 54-47 in January.
“I’m super proud of my kids,” Faulkner said. “We’ve talked about how long this week is (between games) and it’s exhausting to go to practice every day and not have a game. But they did a great job doing everything we’ve talked about. I thought we did a fantastic job on (Palmer). With how much film we watched, we saw he was prone to picking up offensive fouls and getting a little hot-headed. I’m not surprised (he got ejected) from what I’ve seen. We did a great job following the game plan.”
Palmer entered averaging 20.4 points per game but was held scoreless in the first half. He finally scored at the 6:37 mark of the third quarter with a lay in and free throw, but it would be his only field goal of the night.
All five of his points came in the third as Murkail Cray and White bothered him defensively for a majority of the night.
“I don’t think he’s come across many guys he couldn’t beat off the dribble,” Faulkner said. “One thing we have is really good athletes who know how to guard. Murkail has been really good at it and Shaheed, I’m going to give him props, that’s one of the best defensive games I’ve seen him play.”
Columbia jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter when White snatched a steal and hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Ponte Vedra cut that lead to one midway through second quarter, but the Tigers answered with a 7-0 run to take a 23-15 lead before Ryan Speace hit a 3 — part of his team-high 13 points — to pull the Sharks within five at the half.
After Palmer’s and-1 play opened the third quarter, Columbia responded with an 11-1 run that included a pair of 3-pointers from Wilson and another by Zaeon Jones to make it 34-22. Ponte Vedra never got the deficit back within single digits, with the Tigers carrying a 38-26 lead into the fourth.
“They were pretty big,” Wilson said of his two 3s, “but if it wasn’t for my teammates creating open shots for me, I wouldn’t have had them.”
That was just the beginning of a hot streak for Wilson, who then scored seven of his team’s first nine points of the fourth quarter. That included his third 3-pointer to make it 45-29.
“I’ve really put in the work these last couple of days to get my shot right and it paid off,” Wilson said.
While only Wilson and White finished in double figures for Columbia, there was plenty of balance offensively. Cray chipped in six points while Jones had five and Terrance Tolbert, Zadrian Knowlton and Mikel Morgan each had four.
“That’s the beauty of our guys — it can be any different guy every night,” Faulkner said. “Last week it was Zadrian. Tonight, it was Kadrian that led us in scoring. The beauty of our group is that it can be any guy, and I think the best part is, they don’t care. They just want to win and go to the next round.”
The Tigers’ lead grew to as many as 18 late in the game before the Sharks hit a couple of 3-pointers to make it a little closer. Ponte Vedra, which entered the matchup making seven 3s per game, hit just four shots from beyond the arc, with three of them coming in the fourth quarter.
Columbia, meanwhile, hit seven 3-pointers. In addition to Wilson’s three made 3s, White hit a pair in the first quarter.
“We spent the whole week shooting,” Faulkner said. “The 3-point game, I thought, was going to be huge in this. We trapped a heck of a lot. We didn’t trap them much the last time. We trapped them right off the bat because I’m a big believer that if you’re a good shooter, in the fourth quarter you’re not going to have legs because you’ve been pressured the whole game. They made a few late, but they were insignificant.”
What is significant is the Tigers’ belief. After knocking off the region’s No. 3 and No. 2 seed, they’ve now won six of their last seven ahead of next week’s showdown against No. 1 seed Fleming Island.
It’ll be another shot at redemption for Columbia, which fell to the Golden Eagles 74-58 in December. But as the first two rounds of the playoffs have shown, the Tigers are ready to slay whoever stands in their way.
“We’ve just stayed together,” White said. “We could’ve been the 8 seed, but we were going to play hard, even harder. We got blessed with the 6 seed and now we’re off to the championship. We’re going to win that game the same way we won this game.”