Columbus Christian put up a strong first quarter during the boys basketball ICSAA South Regional semifinals against Christian Academy of Madison.
The final three quarters told a much different story.
The Defenders turned up the intensity to jump out on the Crusaders, who couldn’t find an offensive counter the rest of the game to fall 64-43.
“I thought we had a good week of practice. We were executing our game plan in the first quarter,” Columbus Christian coach Kevin Roth said. “Then, we started getting down five or six, then we would try to make it all up right away and then it just gets away from you.”
The Crusaders (10-24) trailed 8-6 after the first quarter, but eventually tied the score at 10-10 early in the second period. Christian Academy (25-6) then went on a 7-0 run, but Columbus Christian came back with C.J. Reed and Josh Jones leading the charge to cut it back to 19-16. The Defenders then finished out the first half on a 9-0 run to lead 28-16 at the break.
The start of the second half didn’t go in the Crusaders’ favor, with Christian Academy jumping out on a 12-2 run to lead 40-18.
Reed finished with a team-high 16 points for Columbus Christian, while Jones had 11, and Gabe Ridder added 10. Luke Carter led the Defenders with a game-high 26 points, and Trent Haggard added 16.
Seniors Reed, Jones and Evan Graham played in their final home game as Crusaders.
“They put in a lot of hard work and effort. For this year being their senior year, I feel really bad for them to go out this way,” Roth said. “I know the time they’ve been here throughout all those years and seeing night in night out the hard work they put in, it’s tough for them to lose by the amount they did today.”
Those group of seniors made a state final four appearance and won their division in the NACA tournament as freshmen in 2016-17, going 28-6 that season. Since then, they haven’t had a winning record. From 2011-2016, Columbus Christian posted at least 21 wins.
Roth hopes the Crusaders can turn things around sooner than later.
“That’s the thing about it. I look at our underclassmen, and I hope that they put in the work that takes place over the summer,” Roth said. “It’s going to take some time and hard work to get back to what we’ve been used to.”
