Even In Defeat, Columbia Flashes Growth As Crimson Tide Fall Victim To Executive Education And Raptors’ Lethal Runs

Written by: Andy Herr on December 12, 2024

Coming into the year, we knew it would be this way. We knew that the version of the Columbia Crimson Tide boys’ basketball team that last played in the state tournament against Math, Civics, and Sciences at Norristown High back in March wouldn’t resemble anything like the 2024-25 edition of the Tide.

For starters, well, ironically enough those too were quite literally wiped out. In fact, just a year after hoisting the District 3-3A gold trophy on the Giant Center floor at Hershey, Columbia returned all of one of the key contributors who saw significant minutes donning the maroon and gold colors from a year ago, that being Ladarian “LD” Miller. The bench? Well, that too would look significantly different seeing as how now former Columbia head coach Kerry Glover was able to go home and get his dream job of leading the York High Bearcats after an extensive search that took nearly the entire duration of the offseason to sort out. As a result, one of his most loyal assistants, Elijah Cooper, rightfully and justly was awarded the keys to one of the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s most prestigious of franchises when he was picked to lead the Columbia program into this great new awakening with Cooper being one of the most promising young coaches on the rise inside the local landscape.

But when you talk about a place that has its identity so tightly woven into the fabric of the community itself, even with a rookie head coach now getting his turn at the varsity level, even with an entirely new roster of fresh faces entering into the fold, at a school like Columbia, there is no “starting over.” The only option is upholding the tradition that has been laid by those who have come before you and whose shoulders you now stand upon.

Speaking of which, that’s the same type of mindset that the Tide’s opponent on Wednesday saw themselves as well.

When you walk into Founders Hall on the campus of Executive Education Academy in Allentown, a school that shares its parking lot with the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs minor league baseball team, you’re promptly greeted with placards proudly showing the Raptors’ success of late in terms of its basketball prowess. To some, that would seem rather daunting to look up at after you get done with an almost two-hour long bus ride, such as in Columbia’s case. But when you are a six-time defending District 11 champion, you earn the right to boast and stick your chest out a little bit. And this year, with Executive out in search of capturing what would be a seventh straight title in a row should they do so, you’d have to start talking about the Raptors being one of the best small school boys’ basketball programs going if not already, but certainly on the eastern side of the state to say the least.  To be sure, what Executive head coach Ray Barbosa, who in his own collegiate playing days while paired in the backcourt with fellow Allentown-ite Jay Greene helped to give UMBC the school’s first conference title back in 2008, –yes, “that” UMBC of 16-seeded fame – is nothing short of remarkable.

So, while one team may have been entering in a brand-new era of sorts coming into the season, Wednesday night in Allentown nonetheless still featured a pair of district champions from a year ago in their own right when Columbia trekked east to take on Executive Education in a nonconference matchup. Yet even with almost nothing but new faces, that same level of toughness and fight that have come to personify Columbia teams over the years continued to remain on display. The problem for the Crimson Tide? Executive Education can –and did– go off on mesmerizing runs on such short notice.

Early on, while Ladarian Miller was able to sink a triple on Columbia’s opening offensive trip of the evening to give the visitors a certain jolt, Executive retaliated right back.

With the Tide sitting back in a 3-2 zone defensively, the Raptors tried to pick it apart. Yet even when they didn’t, their hot shooting touch to possibly try and get Columbia out of their defensive gameplan wasn’t too shabby either, such as the case when freshman point guard, Jaxon Loper, buried two consecutive triples near the midway point of the opening frame to rattle off an impromptu 11-0 run in favor of the home side.

And while Columbia would finally stem the tide and quench their nearly five-minute long scoring drought thanks to a pullup sunk by way of their own freshman guard, Martez Baker, making it a 11-5 Raptors’ cushion, the opening eight minutes would eventually expire with Executive owning the 15-6 advantage.

But Executive being able to rise and fire over the top of the Columbia zone only continued to be a prevailing theme once the second act got underway. Case in point, a pair of 3-balls dialed up in successive fashion by Loper and senior guard, Elias Lopez, upping the lead out to a 21-8 difference mere moments into the quarter.

By this point, it was fairly evident that things could quickly spiral out of control for Columbia if they weren’t able to right the ship. And pronto. Fortunately for them, that’s precisely what they were able to do.

All game long, while Executive would go off on highly explosive salvos, Columbia just kept coming back for more. And never more was that evident than with a tough bucket inside chipped in by Tide junior forward, Sincere Diego, before Diego found himself the beneficiary of a marvelous dish amongst the Raptors’ tall trees inside thrown by Julian Baez not long afterwards, as Diego’s pair of buckets closed the gap down to a 24-17 score with 2:33 left in the opening half.

Yet while Executive would be able to carry a double figure lead with them into the intermission at a 31-20 count, the momentum that Columbia had been able to garner and then hold onto throughout a majority of the first half was something that could not be overstated.

Speaking of Sincere Diego, he would yet again continue to remain a thorn in the Raptors’ collective side. Here, with yet another bunny inside that kept the gap at seven, 31-24, as Diego was well on his way to what would be a very loud seven-point outing by the end of the night all things considered.

However, even with the overall vibes careening in their direction just two minutes into the second half, that would be all the closer Columbia would get for the remainder of the contest.

If Executive wasn’t spraying it in from long range in the traditional manner, such as the case when sophomore guard, Eshaan Tung, chipped in a trifecta that upped the Raptors’ lead to 38-24 with 4:16 left to play in the third, they were quite capable of doing so in the old fashioned way as demonstrated by Ziyon Wilkins’ hoop plus the harm and freebie added on top as the junior guard would later make it a 44-27 difference for his troops.

Remarkably, inside a quarter in which Columbia had earlier found themselves within a touchdown at 31-24 as previously stated, the Executive Education lead would then suddenly balloon out to a commanding 20-point margin come the third quarter buzzer virtue of the Raptors’ 50-30 lead, a rally which saw Executive end the stanza on a 19-6 clip.

Simply put, even if the hill might’ve appeared too high to climb with the margin standing at what it was heading into the final frame, good luck convincing Columbia of that. Good luck convincing LD Miller of that.

In terms of bright spots inside the Crimson Tide’s collective effort on Wednesday night, there’s no way the narrative can start without Miller’s exploits. Specifically, while the senior’s night would crescendo with a game-high 29-point performance once the dust had finally settled, his effort plays inside the fourth quarter against Executive most certainly became contagious to his relatively inexperienced Crimson Tide teammates. In fact, perhaps no example best personified that better than with Miller tabulating a floater in the lane –this after two earlier triples sunk in the quarter mind you – before then finishing the ensuing Columbia trip down the floor with a sweet dish to Julian Baez, prompting Barbosa to bring his Raptors’ starters back in albeit with ownership of a 63-48 lead and with 2:37 left to play given the Tide’s suddenly furious charge.

That said, even despite their best efforts down the stretch, Executive Education’s prowess across the board simply proved to be too much. Sure enough, while playing with the wind in their sails of Jaxon Loper’s team-high 18-point showing, the Raptors were also able to tally three others into double figures scoring on Wednesday behind the efforts of Eshaan Tung, Ziyon Wilkins, and Elias Lopez respectively, all of which helped translate into a 73-58 victory in favor of Executive over Columbia on this night.

Granted, while Columbia now finds itself sporting an 0-3 overall record to begin the campaign coming out of Allentown here in midweek, there’s certainly signs of which the Tide can build upon moving forward with the lion’s share of the slate still yet to go. And what better way to make a resounding opening statement to a local audience than by welcoming another small school powerhouse, Lancaster Mennonite, into town on Friday night for a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Four lid-lifter atop “The Hill” between the two programs who have run roughshod over the rest of the division for as long as most can reasonably recount.

Again, while only time will tell as to what this Columbia season ends up looking like over the course of the next few months, regardless of the roster’s experience tabulated thus far at the varsity level –or lack thereof – if the Crimson Tide continue to scratch and claw the way in which they did for all 32 minutes against Executive Education, that’s more enough to make their competitors leery of lining up against Columbia this winter. Yes, even if it may take awhile to get familiar with everyone’s names.

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