ELIZABETHTOWN - For Columbia, a bad start but a fast finish added up to a clutch victory.
Nick Nobile, playing in just his second game this season after missing the first eight games while recovering from a broken wrist, hit an incredibly huge game-tying 3-pointer, and Haaji Michael coaxed in four free throws in the game’s final 20 seconds, giving the Crimson Tide a 55-51 victory over host Elizabethtown on the final day of the Bears’ three-team, three-day round-robin holiday tournament.
Allentown Central Catholic topped Columbia 78-50 on Thursday and beat E-town 76-58 on Friday.
The Tide capped the tourney in fine fashion, overcoming a sluggish start to stun the Bears, who hit the holiday break 4-0 in league play and alone in first place in Section 2.
Columbia hit the holiday breather 2-2 in league play and is in a logjam in the middle of the pack in Section 4.
Saturday's L-L League boys' basketball round-up.
Updated L-L League boys' basketball standings.
Safe to say Saturday’s win over AAAA E-town, the reigning Section 2 champ and L-L League semifinalist, should give Columbia plenty of motivation moving forward.
And the Tide will need it; Columbia’s first three section games coming back next week are at Lancaster Mennonite (3-1), at Lebanon Catholic (2-2) and at Lancaster Catholic (3-1), who are all fighting it out for the lead in the section.
“It’s been a roller coaster for us, so hopefully this gives us some momentum going back into section play,” Tide coach Mark Wisler said. “We have to build off this because there are a lot of good teams out there.”
Saturday, both teams struggled out of the gate; E-town led 6-4 after the first quarter and 19-11 at the break. Neither team shot the ball particularly well, and Columbia turned the ball over nine times in the first half.
“I told them at halftime that in my 11 years coaching, that was the worst first half that I was ever a part of,” Wisler said. “It looked like we didn’t want to be here. We weren’t getting any loose balls. We gave up 12 offensive rebounds. It was not a good performance in the first half.”
Columbia finally sprang to life in the third quarter, outscoring the Bears 22-15. Nobile, the team’s leading returning scorer from last season and four-year starter for the Tide, and Will Kreiser keyed the third-quarter spree.
VIDEO: Interview with Columbia's Will Kreiser.
Nobile hit a 3 and scored 6 of his team-high 14 points and Kreiser had four buckets in the post and grabbed five of his team-high 10 rebounds in the quarter - which ended with E-town nursing a 34-33 lead compliments of Michael Kinderwater’s buzzer-beater stick-back.
But the Bears, who led by as many as nine points in the second half, simply couldn’t slam the door in the fourth quarter.
Nobile was a thorn in E-town’s side; he scored 8 more points in the fourth, including a dagger 3-pointer from the top of the key, knotting it up at 51-all with 42 seconds to play.
What made it really sting for the Bears was that Nobile’s trey came right after E-town called a timeout to draw up a defensive scheme to protect its 3-point lead.
Nobile, unguarded after a pick-and-pop screen at the top of the key, had a wide open look and buried the game-tying shot.
Columbia went ahead for good when Michael hit a pair of free throws to make it 53-51 with 20.1 seconds to go. He canned two more freebies after Columbia gained possession on a jump ball for the final margin with 6.5 seconds left.
“That was the difference at the end of the game,” Wisler said. “He really stepped up to the plate.”
The Tide evened up its overall record at 5-5.
The Bears slipped to 6-3.
“We never got untracked,” E-town coach Kevin Dolan said. “Poor shot selection. Some bad turnovers at the wrong times. Some fouls that weren’t smart at the right times. Things like that. It seemed like we just didn’t have our heads in the game. Our team can play and we can be a really good team. But we need to play every night. And we need to learn from this. If we don’t learn from this … we have to get better from this. And I think we will. We have a lot of seniors, and I’m sure they’ll get together and regroup and be ready to go back into section play next week.”
E-town hosts Ephrata (1-3) on Wednesday and welcomes Solanco (1-3) next Friday.
NOTABLE: E-town’s leading scorer, rugged forward Tyler Koser, spent a good chunk of the evening on the bench after taking two separate spills. In the first minute of the game he took a hit to his side and sat for several minutes. And with 1:59 to go in the third quarter, Koser dove head-first into the scorer’s table chasing down a loose ball. He remained on the ground for a few minutes and eventually he left the gym twice for concussion tests. He was deemed fit and returned in the fourth quarter, when he scored 6 of his 10 points. Dolan said after the game that Koser will be reevaluated on Monday. … Lucas Jewell pumped in a game-high 20 points to pace the Bears. He scored 16 points in the second half, including 9 points in the third quarter to answer Columbia’s run. … Kreider scored 12 points and Ed Moore scored 10 points and plucked 10 boards for Columbia. … E-town out-rebounded the Tide 42-39. Tyler Rosepink - who got more minutes off the bench with Koser struggling with injuries - snared a game-high 11 boards - eight in the second quarter alone. … Turnovers: Bears nine, Tide 12, but none in the third quarter, when Columbia made its run. … Nobile broke his left - non-shooting - wrist in Columbia’s District 3 A semifinal football game against Delone Catholic back on November 16. … The All-Tournament Team included: Nobile, Kreiser, Jewell and Allentown Central Catholic’s Jean Lee Baez and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, who was tabbed the tourney’s MVP.
JEFF REINHART: jreinhart@pennlive.com
ON TWITTER: @JeffReinhartPN