FLEMING ISLAND — A poor finish to the second quarter sent Columbia into halftime down six.
Then in the third, the Tigers’ season was pressed into extinction.
Top-seeded Fleming Island wore down No. 6 seed Columbia with its press defense in the second half to pull away for a 69-45 win in the Region 1-5A finals Saturday night at FIHS. The Tigers were outscored by nine in the third quarter and trailed by as many as 26 late as the Golden Eagles punched their ticket to the state Final Four.
Columbia was hoping to make its first Final Four since 2020. Instead, the Tigers came up short for the third time in four trips to the regional finals since 2019 under head coach Steve Faulkner.
“Their pressure wears you down and I thought when we made mistakes, they capitalized,” Faulkner said. “It seemed like every time they made us pay for a mistake.”
Four-star recruit Carson Crawford, who was coming off a 50-point performance in the regional semifinals, finished with just seven points but his teammates more than made up for it. Alexander Brown scored a team-high 13 points off the bench and was one of four Golden Eagles to finish in double figures, which also included Bryce Robinson (12), Ayden Greenidge (11 off the bench) and Ryan Turner (10).
Greenidge also grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double as Fleming Island (22-8) hurt Columbia (17-12) on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 36-27. The Golden Eagles were especially productive on the offensive boards, scoring 12 points on putbacks.
“They wore us down physically and mentally,” Faulkner said.
Shaheed White, who was the only Tiger to finish in double figures with 15 points, credited Fleming Island’s size for disrupting CHS on the offensive end. The Golden Eagles, who feature 6-foot-10 Jalil Hill and the 6-foot-7 Crawford, blocked 10 shots that included three by Crawford and two by Hill.
That made it tough for the rest of the Tigers to get clean looks at the rim. Kadrian Wilson only scored seven points — all in the first quarter — while Murkail Cray and Terrance Tolbert had just five.
“It affected us a lot because we had to change our whole game plan,” White said. “We’re a team that likes to get to the rim, so we had to change our whole game and make the extra pass and get the 3s up. But for a team like us that likes to get to the rim and get downhill, it affected us a lot.”
The Tigers’ agony was made even worse by four ejections midway through the fourth quarter. At the 4:53 mark of the period with Fleming Island already ahead 61-39, Cray and Crawford got tangled up near the baseline, prompting Cray to shove Crawford before Crawford threw the ball at Cray’s head.
Things quickly escalated as Cray went to fight Crawford before eventually being pulled back by teammates. In the midst of the scuffle, Kyren Caldwell, Zadrian Knowlton and Gavin Broomfield all left the bench and were tossed as a result along with Cray following a several-minute delay where officials discussed the penalties.
Crawford, meanwhile, only received a technical foul, much to Faulkner’s chagrin. Faulkner says Crawford was the one who originally threw an elbow to Cray, which caused him to lose his temper.
“He clearly got hit with an elbow in the face,” Faulkner said. “That’s why he grabbed him and then the kid throws the ball at him. And Murkail is not one to back down from something unfortunately. Sometimes it needs to be tempered. In that scenario you get hit with an elbow, he was wrong, but I can kind of understand his frustration and anger in the moment.”
Crawford was given two free throws following the officials ruling, which prompted Faulkner to walk out on the floor and question the officials why Crawford wasn’t also tossed.
“I questioned them after they gave me the initial ruling – why wasn’t Crawford ejected as well,” Faulkner said. “Because not only did he throw an elbow, but he also threw the ball. There were two actions by him in this. Not defending Murkail. Murkail should’ve been ejected, 100%, but there was something that led up to it and, in my opinion, I think (Crawford) got away with one.”
Columbia was neck and neck with Fleming Island in the first half but closed both quarters poorly. The Golden Eagles ended the first on a 7-0 run after the Tigers had taken a 15-14 lead on a layup by Tolbert and then ended the first half on a 10-3 run after the Tigers had gone ahead 23-22 on a 3-pointer by Cray.
Part of those runs were generated from blocked shots and turnovers leading to transition buckets for the Golden Eagles, but some of it was due to CHS missing shots at the rim too.
“We were right there if we could convert some of those,” Faulkner said. “For a half we played pretty dang well, and then the wheels came off there in that third quarter.”
Fleming Island went up double digits for good midway through the third quarter when Robinson snatched the ball away for Tolbert and went the other way for a bucket to make it 43-32. That sparked an 11-4 run to finish the period to send the Golden Eagles to the fourth up 16.
The Tigers then only scored three points — all from the foul line — for the first four-plus minutes of the fourth as Fleming Island’s lead grew to 65-39. A putback from Tolbert finally gave Columbia its first field goal of the quarter at the 3:36 mark, but it was just one of three in the final period.
“Their style of play just takes you out of what you want to do, and I think it eventually wears you down,” Faulkner said. “We really couldn’t even call a set.”
The good news moving into next year for the Tigers is that only Cray, Tolbert and Broomfield are graduating. Several key rotation pieces should be back, including juniors Zaeon Jones, White, Wilson and Caldwell as well as sophomores Mikel Morgan and Harold Moore.
White says this loss will serve as motivation heading into next season.
“I feel very good because of the mindset we have because no one (in the locker room) is joking right now,” White said. “All the underclassmen are just as sad as the upperclassmen so I feel like we can be right back here next year.”