Well-Balanced Crimson Tide Score Critical 30-Point Road Win At Lancaster Country Day As Columbia Presides Over Section Four Standings Heading Into Holiday Break
Written by: Andy Herr on December 20, 2023
Without question, one of the worst things you can use to describe a team is to call them “frontrunners.” Simply put, for those who are hardwired with that of a competitive nature, them’s fightin’ words. Hard to argue too when you consider that the moniker suggests that teams are only able to thrive when the sailing is smooth, and the adversity is almost nowhere to be found. Sure, but it’s not as if starting off slow and behind in the divisional standings is exactly the most preferred method of attack either. In that regard, it’d be hard to find fault with Columbia’s Kerry Glover and Lancaster Country Day’s Jon Shultz, the head coaches found on either bench leading their clubs, if they wanted to reside up near the front of the L-L Section Four standings heading into the holiday break come late Tuesday night for the only game found on the entire conference slate.
Speaking of Section Four, not only could you make an argument that they have been the most noteworthy collection of teams throughout the first few weeks of the season in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, but you might not even be able to make a sound argument to really counter against it either quite frankly. For starters, you obviously have the defending 2A state champs in Lancaster Mennonite. That’s obvious. Beyond that though, both Annville-Cleona and Pequea Valley are off to their best starts in years respectively. Lastly, you had the likes of Columbia, arguably one of the better boys’ 3A teams in all the state when the pieces are clicking, and Lancaster Country Day, always a stalwart in the District 3-1A bracket come late February on an almost perennial basis in their own right.
Suffice to say, while the league season is barely even underway, snagging those early wins may very prove to be the eventual difference when it comes to crowning a section champion, and/or awarding the two slots out of Section Four into the league tournament. Well, in that respect, you could make the argument that the Columbia Crimson Tide were able to pick up their best win of the year yet to date on the road Tuesday night at Country Day.
Ironically, for a team that typically displays its collective venom in the form of its prolific offense, namely in that of the transition game, the Tide found themselves with the early lead on the Section Four lid-lifter by way of their defensive prowess instead.
Granted, while Country Day’s scoring phenom who seems to have parking lot range, Jordan Ashby, was able to rise and fire in a deep triple to begin the contest, the Tide were largely able to hold the sophomore All-State caliber guard in check the for the remainder of the opening half by throwing a variety of different bodies into his viewpoint to help keep him honest following his early flame-thrower.
From the Tide’s perspective, they too had an early stalwart who helped set their table. For them, 6’3 senior forward, Brelon Miller, would have those honors as the wiry wing proceeded to score four of Columbia’s first six points of the evening which proved to be the impetus for their 16-7 cushion later in the first following an Artie Poindexter layup in transition with 2:30 left.
And while Ashby would be able to regain traction in the scoring column not long thereafter with a silky smooth step-back jumper to cut the Tide lead back down to seven on the Cougars’ ensuing offensive possession, an equally impressive “bully ball” move by Columbia’s Jordan Poole in the waning stages made it a 20-9 Crimson Tide lead which is precisely where things stood 30 seconds later once the quarter ended following the 6’0 senior’s bucket inside.
Yet arm’s length would essentially be where the guests would keep their hosts for the remainder of the contest.
Case in point, even while Ashby was able to snag another triple in the initial moments of the second stanza, his third of the opening half, which cut the Tide lead down to ten at 24-14, a timely trifecta on the ensuing Columbia trip down the floor courtesy of another senior in the Tide rotation, Derrick Hershey, upped the visitor’s lead back to a baker’s dozen in relatively short order.
But to their credit, even when the lead started to flirt near the 20-point plateau as the second quarter progressed onward, Lancaster Country Day was warm to the fight.
And as one may expect, Jordan Ashby, the eventual team-high scorer who posted a routine 22-point night of work based on his undeniable talents, got the Cougars’ response generated with a string four straight LCD points tallied all by his lonesome. From there, his teammates proceeded to get in on the act such as the case when Jeremy Ouilikin and Kane Kirby took their turns firing in a pair of triples between them respectively, a six-point swing which effectively helped send Country Day into the halftime locker room with a bit of momentum to their name, albeit while still trailing by a 39-28 margin.
Here again though, just when it may have seemed as if Country Day was starting to make a hard charge at overtaking the scoreboard from their guests, Columbia was there waiting with bad intentions for them.
While Jordan Ashby may have been the unquestioned shining star when it came to the Lancaster Country Day perspective on this night, Columbia on the other hand Tuesday night was remarkably well-balanced. In fact, during the first half of play, every member of the Crimson Tide who found themselves earning minutes also found themselves with points in the scorebook to show for it. Needless to say, picking the best member of the Tide on Tuesday was equal to that of trying to pick out the favorite noodle from of a bowl of spaghetti. Even still, Brelon Miller would do his best at trying to achieve such a distinction.
Granted, while it’d be easy to simply look at the box score and recognize that Miller did yeoman’s work by virtue of his game-high 25-point outing, there was more to it than that. Yes, while the Tide’s veteran wing was able to find the median between a noteworthy 20-point night and a sensational 30-point performance, nearly all his buckets seemed to come at the most critical of junctures.
For proof of that, simply start off with his bucket from point-blank range courtesy of nifty dime by that of Jordan Poole underneath in the early stages of the third quarter which ballooned the Tide lead up to a 45-28 count. Then, once you recognize that Country Day came creeping back in thanks to a pair of treys knocked down by Ashby and Chris Dukes respectively which had whittled the Columbia lead down to ten at 47-37, a trifecta down on the other end from Miller as his immediate rebuttal saved the pendulum of momentum from totally swinging back over in the Cougars’ favor. Finally, with the third quarter all but wrapped up, an old-fashioned three-point play chipped in by Miller not only closed the door on a timely late third quarter charge engineered by Columbia, but it also seemed to slam the window of opportunity on Country Day entirely considering that the Tide found themselves in front, 58-39, with only eight minutes left to play in this the first game of section competition.
Try as they might though, Lancaster Country Day seemed for all the world to think that it was still plenty of time of which they could work with.
In fact, even when the fourth quarter got underway with the Tide lead standing at 19, a 5-0 salvo tallied exclusively by Jordan Ashby erased the margin back down to 14, 60-46, in a way where one could start to do mathematics in terms of time and score to see if a Cougars’ frantic push would perhaps be feasible.
No need for the arithmetic lesson here. Not with Brelon Miller in the front of the classroom at Parent’s Fieldhouse on the Country Day campus on Tuesday night.
Sure enough, just as he had been able to do inside the third frame, Miller would be able to stave off the Cougars’ persistent charges with timely buckets. Here, inside the fourth now, a hoop plus the harm from Miller would precede a triple knocked down by 6’2 senior forward, Nate Moreta, before a fitting Brelon Miller bunny side immediately afterwards not only helped swell the Columbia up to 20 at 69-49 a few minutes later, but it effectively allowed the benches to be cleared and the reserves to play the final few minutes with the outcome all but inevitable by that time.
And once the scoreboard finally did display nothing but zeroes, it made for a happy bus ride home on Route 30 as Columbia was able to come away with an 80-50 win over Lancaster Country Day, a win which may prove to be far more formidable than it may originally appear right now with just a few days left before Christmas.
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