Columbus High School boys basketball coach Sammy Smith promises patience with a young squad.

For the Falcons, that patience may be needed early and often.

However, two lengthy scoring runs lifted the Falcons to a victory in their season opener Tuesday night. Columbus enjoyed a 16-1 first-half spurt and a 17-2 second-half spurt to dispatch West Lowndes 81-57.

“We are just young and that is the bottom line,” Smith said. “You saw a bunch of youthful mistakes. If you saw us last year, we are not the same team. There is only one senior on the roster. However, the kids have a tremendous work ethic. We will get where we want to go.”

West Lowndes (0-2) used grit and determination on defense to cut the deficit to 48-41 in the closing minutes of the third quarter. However, the Falcons scored 13 of the final 15 points of the quarter to move back out of danger.

“We had a couple of stretches of real good offense,” said Columbus senior Deontae Jones, who had a team-high 17 points. “We have to work on consistency. Football ended last week, so now we can get in the gym and work hard on our game. I think we have the potential to be pretty good this year.

“It is my job as a senior to keep everybody’s head up. They are looking at me for the leadership. I am the only senior, so that is my job.”

Once back in the contest, West Lowndes had a couple of critical turnovers and couldn’t recover.

“I really thought we had them when we got it back to seven,” West Lowndes coach Ricky Hill said. “We beat them last year, so it was not like we couldn’t do it again. However, we got back in the game and then had a series of mistakes. These guys just walked off the football field. That is not an excuse. However, they didn’t have their legs under them. We need to build some depth. After getting back in the game, we didn’t have the energy to build on that.”

The teams were nip-and-tuck in the opening quarter. The Falcons then found some momentum on the defensive end. A 9-0 run gave them a 16-8 lead. The run included back-to-back steals by Tim Lewis, which led to back-to-back fast-break baskets by Zakeem Thomas. A Darrius Farmer 3-pointer cut the lead to 16-11 before Columbus scored the final four points of the quarter for a 20-11 lead.

In the early stages of the second quarter, C.J. Scott hit a 3-pointer to start an 11-0 run. A putback by Scott ran the advantage to 34-12. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Antonio Wilson and Cody Crawford allowed the Panthers to hang tough.

“We are shooting the ball well,” Hill said. “It is all about rebounding, blocking out, playing harder on the defensive end. I have got to get some help from my bench, too. We have to get more players playing in our rotation.”

West Lowndes turned the pressure up on defense and cut the Columbus lead to 40-29 at halftime.

Late in the third quarter, a putback by Bryant Smith brought the hosts within 48-41. Columbus then forced four straight turnovers, fueling a game-changing 15-2 run to end the third quarter.

“We were able to guard a little harder and turn them over a couple of times,” Smith said. “That really was the difference in the ballgame. Our ball movement was good. Offensively, we did some things well. But anyone who saw us play tonight knows that we have a very long way to go.”

A 3-pointer by Scott allowed the Falcons to take their biggest lead (72-47) with less than five minutes remaining.

“We did some things right tonight,” Jones said. “But we are going to have work really hard to be the kind of team we want to be. I think we have some guys who can play. We have to find a way to work harder on defense as a team. If we do that, we can win some games.”

The Falcons made 26 turnovers and were called for five free-throw lane violations.

Lewis had 13 points and Devin Berry added 10 points. Wilson led West Lowndes with 23 points, while Wilson had 16 points. The Panthers hit nine 3-pointers, including four by Wilson.

The Columbus boys will play host to Starkville on Tuesday, while West Lowndes will play host to Kemper County on Friday.

In the girls game, Columbus led from start to finish in a 77-23 victory.

“I thought we did some things well,” Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston said. “Being the first game, there were a lot of things we wanted to see. From an execution standpoint, we played well. Our first game, I thought we did OK. ”

Maggie Proffitt had a game-high 14 points to pace Columbus. The Lady Falcons also received 10 points from Daisha Williams and Laterrica Jefferson. West Lowndes (0-2) received 10 points from Tyesha Knotts.

“The key to our team is we can go 10 or 12 deep,” Hairston said. “We really like our bench this year. We began the year ranked eighth in the state and we take a lot of pride in that.  Everybody on the team can score. When you can score inside and outside, that is a plus.

“This is the best group that I have had in years, so we are really excited.”

Columbus will face H.W. Byers on Saturday in the Newton Tip-Off Classic at East Central Community College in Decatur.

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.