Columbia sweeps basketball tournament in Bahamas
Columbia High School’s boys’ basketball team recently traveled to Freeport, Bahamas and brought home the championship trophy for the Tabernacle Baptist Christian Academy Thanksgiving Tournament. The Columbia Eagles won the tournament with a four-game sweep.
Columbia (4-0) faced Sunland Baptist, the Bahamas national championship team, for the title after both teams won their first three games to reach the finals.
Columbia guard Rashad Headges was instrumental for the Eagles in the title game, scoring a game-high 24 points for which he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player following the Eagles’ 72-66 victory. Headges finished the tournament with 59 points total in the four games.
Terrell Wright filled the stat sheet with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots in the Eagles’ win. He finished with 21 blocks in the tournament. Jamarcus Hatcher added his own double-double for Columbia with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Trevian Callaway added nine points and 11 assists. Callaway finished the tournament dishing out 35 assists, at least 10 steals and scoring 56 points in the four games.
Donnell Basden had 15 points to lead the Sunland Baptist Stingers in the championship loss.
Columbia outscored its first three opponents 248-88 (82.7 – 29.3 average) on the way to the finals. The tournament consisted of seven teams from the Bahamas and two from the United States (Columbia and Brainerd from Tennessee).
The tournament is known as the USA-Grand Bahama Showdown after more than 20 years of competition.
Game 1
Columbia 85, St. Georges 36
Columbia opened the tournament knocking off its first Bahaman opponent, St. Georges, by a score of 85-36 as four players hit double figures.
Callaway led the Eagles with 16 points and 10 assists and Headges scored 13. Kevin Bruce and Mekhi Craft hit for 11 points each in the game. Wright had seven points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Game 2
Columbia 70, Brainerd 32
Columbia took on its only USA counterpart, Brainerd (Tennessee) in the second round with a 70-32 victory to advance.
Callaway had his second big game of the tournament, hitting for 18 points and dishing out eight assists. Wright had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double and blocked six shots in the win. Bruce contributed 15 points and Headges added 10.
Game 3
Columbia 93, Jack Heyward 20
Five Eagles hit double digit points on the way to Columbia’s 93-20 win over the Bahama’s Jack Heyward in the third game of the tournament.
Cassidy Golden scored a team-high 14 points for Columbia while Callaway added 13 points, six assists and four steals. Headges hit for 12 points along with Bruce, and Hatcher tossed in 11 points and had seven rebounds. Wright added eight points, eight rebounds and five blocks.
