Kreiser Gymnasium Claims Another Victim As Second Quarter Blitzkrieg Fuels Columbia To Dominating Nonconference Win Against Camp Hill
Written by: Andy Herr on December 13, 2022
If we are talking about the most historic brands of boys’ basketball programs that happen to call the Lancaster-Lebanon League their home, there are plenty to rightfully consider. Sure, it’s hard to argue with the dominance shown over a prolonged period of time when you consider the likes of Lancaster Catholic, McCaskey and Hempfield to name but just a few, but right there near the very top of the list needs to remain one more—the Columbia Crimson Tide.
In fact, it really takes a slight crook of the head upward when inside their tiny and intimate gym to see as to why given the litany of banners that proudly hang above it, including one of which signifies a state championship that the program was able to lay claim to back in the late 1980’s. Suffice to say, it’s quite a legacy, if not an entire lifestyle, for future members of the Crimson Tide to try and uphold over the course of their respective playing careers up on the hill.
But if we’re talking about the 2021-22 squad specifically, rest assured that their legacy will be cemented forever.
Hard to argue with that considering the Tide last year rolled their way to yet another section title –this coming in the last year of the experimental shall we say advent of five sections — as Columbia powered their way to a perfect Section Five record just one year ago. And granted, while hopes were high that the Tide may have been able to engineer a run throughout the league playoffs with their section title already stowed away, an early exit undoubtedly helped fuel their drive for what would amount to an even bigger prize, the District 3-3A title, which the Tide were able to claim at the palatial Giant Center. From there, while there would be no return trip back to Hershey just a few weeks later to compete for it all with the state title on the line, their eventual conqueror would indeed make it there as Devon Prep, the school which knocked Columbia out of the state playoffs last season at Spring-Ford, would eventually emerge triumphant as the 3A state champion just a few days after vanquishing the Crimson Tide.
This year however, the jury might have still been out on what this year’s version of the Tide would look like, especially considering that they didn’t just lose a solid core due to graduation this past spring, they lost what was arguably the heart and soul of the program throughout the last handful of years in guys like Robert Footman and 1,000-point scorer, Kerry “Hov” Glover, to name just a select few.
But shame on those naysayers. At least throughout the first week of the season that is when you consider that absent of fourth quarter comeback at the hands of Muhlenberg in the championship game of the Manheim Township Tip-Off last Saturday night, this year’s Crimson Tide crew would still be unbeaten with a resume of early work that could rightfully be stacked up alongside anyone else in the entire L-L League.
To that point, keeping the flames of their hot early season start was assuredly at the forefront of everyone’s minds when they began this week on Monday night at home against a perennial name hailing from the Mid-Penn Conference, Camp Hill, for a nonconference tester. And while they would indeed be tested and pushed at times, rest assured that Columbia’s dominance eventually rued the day against the visiting Lions at the end of 32 minutes.
At least early on though, that was not necessarily the hard and fast rule. No, not when you consider that Camp Hill was able to play marvelously efficient on the offensive end to start things off, something best exemplified by a 6-3 start that came following a Jack Kennedy runner in the lane with 5:40 left in the opening stanza. From there, while the Lions would see their advantage cut to the slimmest of margins at 8-7 following a bucket inside by Columbia’s Jordan Poole shortly thereafter, yet another Kennedy take to the cup made it a 13-11 affair with Camp Hill still in front with nary 40 seconds left to go. And once those final 40 seconds did evaporate, the Lions’ lead would remain intact, 13-12, with the second quarter getting set to commence.
As far as that second quarter was concerned? Well, let’s just say that was the textbook definition of how the Crimson Tide can play at home when everything is clicking.
After spotting the hosts an early 5-0 salvo out of the chute following a Poole triple which made it a 17-13 Columbia cushion just a minute into the frame, a 5-0 run all of Poole’s own doing was on display next as the Columbia junior guard promptly upped the Tide lead to double figures, 35-25, with the quarter starting to near its midway point within what felt like a flash. Speaking of Poole, he was arguably Columbia’s tour de force on this night as the junior exploded for a 19-point first half performance en route to a 23-point outing once the dust had finally settled.
But the hits (and turnovers) just kept mounting for Camp Hill with the Lions currently in the midst of experiencing the lethal turbine that is a Columbia home game once the Tide get rolling inside the second quarter.
Case in point, a trifecta splashed in by another uber-talented Crimson Tide junior guard, Artie Poindexter, making it a 32-18 contest with three minutes left to go before intermission, all of which preceded a Brelon Miller leak out opportunity that made it a 36-21 affair just one minute later.
And while the Lions were able to finally tally a bucket that helped stopped the bleeding somewhat found in the form of an Alex Long floater in the lane that made it 43-23 with the opening half spiraling towards its conclusion, Columbia was able to saunter into the dressing room with firm and decisive ownership of the 47-23 lead once the halftime recess rolled around.
Ironically though, much in the same vein as the first period on Monday night, Camp Hill largely orchestrated the show as far as the third quarter was concerned as well.
In fact, after spotting the Lions the first eight points of the third frame, thanks in large part to a pair of takes to the cup by way of team-high scorer, Micah Reeves, Camp Hill had kept the Tide scoreless up until the 3:40 mark of the third quarter while simultaneously closing the gap back down to a 49-31 difference. In fact, Columbia’s offensive spell would last for an additional 57 seconds to be exact as a Brelon Miller take along the baseline –en route to his sharing of game-high scoring honors alongside Jordan Poole with each posting a 23-point outing respectively – gave the Tide their first field goal of the second half which also made it a 52-33 affair.
Yet even despite Camp Hill’s undeniably solid third quarter showing, it was easy to have the narrative get lost in translation seeing as how the Tide still possessed the gargantuan 58-37 lead with the final eight minutes getting set to begin in earnest.
As mentioned, while the entire Crimson Tide outfit played remarkably efficient seeing as how nearly everyone who suited up for them on the varsity side was able to crack into the scoring column on Monday night, it was largely an evening that could only be described as the “Jordan Poole and Brelon Miller Show.” Easy to point that out I suppose when you factor in the 46 combined points that the two were able to score –or 58% of the entire Columbia offensive output in terms of the sheer mathematics – but the two had no qualms whatsoever when it came to sharing the sugar either. For that, look to a magnificent two-man game between Poole and Miller which resulted in a Poole to Miller behind-the-back dish in transition for an easy Tide deuce, a bucket which largely helped signify the night that was up until that point.
And with time continuing to run out, other members of the Tide still found a way to step into the limelight.
There, with time winding down, Derrick Hershey was able to rattle off his own personal 5-0 run with a 3-ball and bucket underneath, as the Tide junior guard helped Columbia up their lead to a 69-41 count near the midway mark of the final period.
And while Camp Hill took their turn dialing up long distance as well down the stretch, such as the case when freshman Jonathan Drawbaugh sunk a trifecta under the three minute mark which made it a 78-45 ballgame, the damage done by this point was far too great for the Lions to overcome as the Tide was able to sail home free with a decisive 80-52 victory over Camp Hill once the final buzzer ultimately blared out on Monday night.
NEXT UP: In some ways, this next portion of the 2022-23 Crimson Tide story comes with a bit of irony. Irony in the sense that for a team that has already played five games throughout the first week and change of the regular season –en route to a 4-1 overall record too I may add – Columbia will be on the shelf for the rest of the week before they take to the court again next Tuesday night to begin their Section Four slate on the road against a remarkably solid divisional foe, Lancaster Country Day, before finishing the pre-holiday slate off with another tricky 1A battle against La Academia at Thaddeus Stevens College next Thursday night. But if nothing else, albeit with a short resume only accumulated thus far, there appears to be no tangible reason at this point as to why this shouldn’t be labeled as a “reload” opposed to a “rebuild” high atop the hill in Columbia this winter.
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