Columbus High School boys basketball coach Sammy Smith has assembled a team with lots of size and length.
Now, the Falcons will work on learning how to play with one another and work on becoming a team.
The first step in that process took place Tuesday night as Columbus knocked off West Lowndes 64-45 in the season opener for both teams at Falcon Gym.
“Working together as a team,” Columbus’ Demetrice Clopton said. “That is what we are working on every day in practice. We know we can defend and rebound. We have a huge team. We just have to communicate better and get comfortable with what we are doing. If we do that, we can go a long way.”
Columbus shook off a horrendous start from the field to ease into a 10-point halftime lead at 25-15. The Class 6A Falcons opened the second half on a 10-2 run and used their long arms and depth to wear down the Class 1A Panthers.
“There was a lot of nervousness for the first game,” Smith said. “I think we all expected that. We had a really tough night shooting the ball. We have to better offensive production from the guards to have any chance. However, we got better throughout the game and that is what I wanted to see.”
Clopton scored 13 of his game-high 16 points over the final three quarters. The 6-foot-7 junior also added 13 rebounds.
“He had a really nice game,” Smith said. “We never could get him healthy last season and he basically missed the entire year. Tonight, you saw a little glimpse of what we want to do out there. We have enough size to control everything underneath. Just have to learn how to play together. I need to relate to the players better and they need to relate to me better. But it will come, sooner than later.”
Fellow big man — 6-foot-5 freshman Robert Woodard — added 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
“When the game first started, we were really vocal,” Clopton said. “Then we got away from there and everybody got quiet. I think some fatigue set it because it was the first game. We just have to keep our energy level up. We have to play with the same intensity the entire game. We have enough players that we can sub when we have to. So we really needed to play with that really high energy level throughout the game.”
West Lowndes, a Class 1A state tournament team last season, was led by freshman C.J. Smith’s 14 points and Wendell Rieves’ 11 points.
In the opener, the Columbus girls overcame early foul trouble with strong play from its bench to record a 58-36 victory.
“The early foul trouble kept us from doing some of the things that we wanted to do,” Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston said. “However, the good news is that meant we had to play more players. I thought we got a lot of good contributions from a lot of different players.”
Columbus built a 20-3 lead after one quarter and were never threatened.
“We were a little tight and that is why the second quarter was so rough,” Hairston said. “We had some young players playing for first time in front of a really large crowd. We did some things well. I thought we really did a great job on the defensive end. We will shoot the ball better after we play some more games and find a comfort level.”
Columbus received 12 points from Kayla Rogers. West Lowndes received 12 points from Shynice Watt.
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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