MADISON — Things were knotted up at halftime of Saturday’s boys basketball game between Columbus Christian and Madison Shawe, but in the second half, it was a different story.
The Hilltoppers started the second half on a 19-6 run that proved to be the difference to give the Crusaders a 68-60 loss.
Columbus Christian did a solid job containing Shawe’s top player, Ethan Stuart, and put him in foul trouble with two quick fouls early in the first quarter.
The Crusaders took advantage by jumping out to a 10-4 lead. The Hilltoppers then went on a 10-0 run to lead 14-10 until Shelton Hawkins converted a basket just before the buzzer sounded to cut it to 14-12 after the first period.
Columbus Christian climbed back in the second quarter with an 11-6 run to go ahead 23-20, but Shawe made three free throws to tie the game at 23-23 at the half.
“One thing that we’ve had trouble in was playing the whole game and getting down on ourselves, but I felt like that wasn’t the case tonight,” Columbus Christian coach Kevin Roth said. “That Stuart kid is a load inside, and we were double- and triple-teaming him. We tried to get him in foul trouble, which we did.”
In the third quarter, the Hilltoppers (3-10) got a lot of help from Leon Kinne, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the period to give Shawe a 44-29 lead. The Crusaders (8-11) charged back to finish the third on a 12-4 run to make it 48-41 heading into the fourth quarter.
Stuart made his presence felt in the fourth by scoring six points in an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 56- 43. The Hilltoppers then extended the lead to 66-47 midway through the fourth. Columbus Christian didn’t give up and fought back to finish out the game outscoring the Hilltoppers 13-2, but the damage was already done.
“It was one of those things where if we can get turnovers and hit shots and shoot better from the foul line, we can stay in games,” Roth said. “It’s been a tough stretch for us with three games this week, and we’ll only have one next week. So hopefully, we can give the kids some time off and give their legs a rest before we get going again.”
C.J. Reed led the Crusaders with a game-high 23 points — his third 20-plus-point game of the week — and Conner Emily added 21. Stuart and Kinne each finished with 17 to lead Shawe.
