Jackson’s 22 spark Bulldogs to second victory in two nights

By Maurice Patton

COLUMBIA — For Columbia Academy, any concern about playing on consecutive nights didn’t last long.

A 25-point first quarter, highlighted by five 3-point baskets, helped the Bulldogs to a 22-point second-period cushion and the hosts held on late for an 88-83 Division II-A District 3 win over Christ Presbyterian Academy.

“Hopefully this will be a stepping stone for some really good things,” said CA coach Marty DeJarnette, whose team stayed unbeaten at 7-0 (3-0) with the Saturday victory – following Friday’s 71-34 league win at Zion Christian.

“I told them, they’d come out a completely different team (Saturday). To see them come out and actually do it is really exciting.”

Junior Will Jackson provided the spark, scoring 11 points in the first quarter, 16 by intermission and a team-high 22 for the night.

“We just got our tempo up,” Jackson said. “That got us going. We fed off each other and kept rolling with it.

“We knew we had to come in shooting them out of the game. We knew they were a good team, a high-percentage 3-shooting team. If we were hitting our 3s and stopping them, we’d have it.”

It was virtually that simple, as CPA (4-1, 2-1) was unable to get its shots to fall in the opening moments of the contest and the Bulldogs took advantage. All five starters scored by the end of the quarter, which CA led 25-12, and freshmen Griffin Cooper and Andre McClellan came off the bench to help extend the margin to 39-17 with three minutes remaining in the half.

“They were fantastic to start,” Lions coach Drew Maddux said. “They were ready to play. We weren’t ready to play. And they’ve got enough guards, they make enough plays, that you just run out of time.”

The hosts led by as many as 23 points, taking a 71-48 lead on a McClellan free throw with 7:34 to play. CPA hit five of its 11 3s in a 35-point fourth quarter, though, that nearly saw the visitors complete the comeback. As it turned out, a four-point margin in the final minute was as close as the Lions could get, as Jackson, Hayden Morgan (15 points) and Tanner Ham (12 points) combined to go five-for-eight from the free throw line and closed the game out.

Cooper finished with 14 points and Drew Butt 11 for CA. Braden Zapp scored 23 points and Evan Shifflet 21 to lead four double-digit scorers for CPA.

“It’s one game,” DeJarnette said. “We beat them (85-70 at CPA) last year, and then they came down here and beat us twice (94-70 in the regular season, 96-61 in the district tournament semifinals). But it’s a measuring stick. We wanted to see if we could compete with a team with high-caliber players.

“It’s a good win, against a good team, but Tuesday’s a whole new challenge. We’d better be ready to go, every night.”

Lady Bulldogs overwhelmed: Columbia Academy struggled to run its offense and couldn’t keep Christ Presbyterian Academy off the backboards in an eventual 65-37 loss Saturday.

CPA (4-2, 2-0) forced turnovers that fueled its transition game, and often got multiple shots by virtue of its size advantage. The Lady Lions led 18-2 before the end of the opening quarter and never looked back.

Karli Quillin scored a game-high 18 points, with a pair of 3s, to lead CA (4-3, 1-2). Virginia Glisson scored a team-high 14 points for CPA, with Addie Ruth Zapp and Sadie Gorley each adding 11 points.

Next up: Columbia Academy faces visiting Middle Tennessee Christian on Tuesday, in a district doubleheader that had to be rescheduled from Nov. 24 because of COVID issues on the part of MTCS.

Columbia Acad. boys 88, Christ Presbyterian Acad. 83

CP 12 17 19 35 – 83
CA 25 20 25 18 – 88

Christ Presbyterian Acad. (83) – Jordan Dewalt 15, Jake Dykstra 5, Braden Zapp 23, Drew Cox 2, Braden Moore 17, Evan Shifflet 21

Columbia Acad. (88) – Tanner Ham 13, Chase Duncan 3, Hayden Morgan 15, Drew Butt 11, Will Jackson 22, Collins Malone 7, Andre McClellan 3, Griffin Cooper 14

3-pointers – Christ Presbyterian Acad. 11 (Dykstra, Zapp 5, Moore 4, Shifflet), Columbia Acad. 9 (Ham, Morgan 2, Butt, Jackson 5)

Christ Presbyterian Acad. girls 65, Columbia Acad. 37

CP 18 16 19 12 – 65
CA 4 9 16 8 – 37

Christ Presbyterian Acad. (65) – Grace Ann Glisson 6, Virginia Glisson 14, Addie Ruth Zapp 11, Sadie Gorley 11, Ava Maddux 5, Miller Anne Mayernick 6, Emmaline Bartlett 8, Mary Logan 2, Maggie Street 2

Columbia Acad. (37) – Jaelyn Hickerson 4, Isabelle Dees 2, Averi Slaughter 9, Madi Lewis 4, Karlie Quillin 18

3-pointers – Christ Presbyterian Acad. 7 (V. Glisson 2, Zapp 3, Gorley, Maddux), Columbia Acad. 3 (Slaughter, Quillin 2)

Photos by Ric Beu / SM-Tn Sports

5 thoughts on “Jackson’s 22 spark Bulldogs to second victory in two nights”

    1. Is this really a conversation we want to have less than a month into the season? Do you realize we’ve covered every basketball team — 12 — in our coverage area already WHILE covering a football state championship that was played nine days ago?

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