Blake Burnett never saw the floor for the Columbus High School varsity boys basketball team during his freshman season two years ago.
But the lessons he learned when he practiced with the Falcons after the end of the ninth-grade season proved valuable long afterward.
Led by Robert Woodard II, now a sophomore guard for Mississippi State, the 2017-18 Columbus squad sought and captured the MHSAA Class 6A championship. Burnett watched from the sidelines, working with and learning from Woodard and the Falcons’ other veterans.
In Tuesday’s matchup of Columbus and Provine in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs, Burnett got to put to use what he learned about playing in close games late in the season. In the middle of the fourth quarter, as the Rams closed the gap the Falcons had wedged open to just four points, Burnett stepped seamlessly into the shoes of the players that he had merely watched two years ago.
He scored seven straight points in less than a minute to put Columbus up double digits, giving the Falcons room to sail on through to the second round with a hard-earned 58-52 win. Columbus (17-10) will play at Cleveland Central (16-13) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“I’ve gotta step up when they need it,” Burnett said. “I’m the one who’s gotta make plays. I do what I’ve gotta do to win.”
Last season, the Falcons were eliminated by Southaven in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs, an abrupt end to Morris’ first year as head coach. But this year, Burnett scored 25 to help ensure Columbus would live to see another game, putting his knowledge to good use in the process.
“Him having that experience, that helped us a lot,” Morris said.
Other than Burnett and senior Gabe Williams, who scored 21 on Tuesday, the Falcons mostly skew young. In close games in the past, Columbus’ youth didn’t always play well. As recently as Friday, the Falcons lost the district championship game to rival New Hope on a layup with 2.7 seconds to go.
“This is one of the first times we’ve moved through a tight game like that in a while,” Morris said. “We had some games where it kind of got away from us, but this one, when it got tight down the stretch, guys stepped up and made plays.”
The Falcons often practiced under similar conditions, but there was no telling how they would fare when the test came for real.
“Guys really haven’t been in this situation,” Morris said. “There’s nothing like when you’ve got that crowd in here — that type of crowd, that type of atmosphere.”
Columbus’ home crowd responded with cheers for the highs of Tuesday’s game — sophomore JJ Williams’ 3-pointer to beat the first-quarter buzzer was among them — but the Falcons’ side of the gym got a little quieter in the fourth quarter when the Rams cut a lead that was as big as 11 points before halftime down to four.
Burnett took charge from there. On consecutive possessions, he split a pair of free throws, dropped in a nifty reverse layup, was fouled and sank both from the line, stole the ball and hit another two foul shots.
“I was kind of feeling myself,” Burnett admitted.
His instantaneous seven-point stretch ballooned the lead from four at 40-36 to 11 at 47-36 — a critical cushion for the fresh-faced Falcons.
Williams scored the next eight points, punctuating his own small run with a powerful right-handed dunk that stretched the lead to 55-44 with just over a minute to play.
Provine extended the contest with intentional fouls — Columbus could still stand to work on its free throw shooting, Morris said — and made a couple of 3s late to make the final score look a little better.
Overall, though, Tuesday’s game was a performance Columbus needed — from Burnett and Williams, certainly, but from the team as a whole.
“I’m proud of the guys for what they did tonight,” Morris said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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