Gabe Williams slid into the padding at the back wall of the court.
The Columbus senior looked a little tired after picking up his second and-one layup in 34 seconds, and it wasn’t hard to see why. With the Falcons clinging to a narrow lead in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s home matchup with Noxubee County, Williams had taken it upon himself to steady his team on its path to victory, and it meant absorbing all the contact he could take.
Williams got up slowly, walked to the free-throw line and missed the bonus foul shot. Then, less than a minute later, he picked up his third and-one layup in 90 seconds flat, giving Columbus a six-point lead and, about five minutes afterward, a win.
“We’re tired and all, but we’ve gotta push through,” said Williams, who said he was “energized” by the physicality of the fourth quarter.
His efforts helped the Falcons pull away late, notching a 55-52 victory over the Tigers on Tuesday in Columbus.
“I told him he’s just gotta be aggressive and do what he do,” Columbus head coach Phillip Morris said. “Gabe will play timid sometimes, but like I told him, he’s just gotta stick with it. … He stepped up big for us.”
One of just two seniors on the Columbus roster, Williams delivered 20 points — half of them came in the fourth quarter. For the Falcons, sophomore JJ Williams contributed 11 points and junior Eric Caldwell had 10 points in a victory that proved narrower than the Falcons expected. The Tigers hit two late 3s and a buzzer-beating layup to close the contest at a three-point disadvantage.
“We should have put the game away a long time ago,” Morris said.
Noxubee County, reinforced by eight football players who joined the basketball team Saturday after losing in the MHSAA Class 3A state championship game on Friday in Hattiesburg, put up a fight. The Tigers kept it neck and neck with the Falcons in the first half and trailed by just one point at the break.
But Columbus stretched its lead to seven at the end of the third quarter and never let Noxubee County get too close. The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-4.
“I’m impressed with where we’re at,” Noxubee County head coach Danny Crawford said. “We’re gonna get a lot better. This will be a team that should make it back to (the) 3A state (tournament).”
Morris took a trip Macon to watch the Tigers beat Itawamba Agricultural 67-59 on Saturday, and he saw much of the same, noting Noxubee County’s physicality and toughness. While the Falcons were a little rattled, it was just what Morris expected. Columbus passed its test.
“I told them I knew it was gonna be a game to help them grow mentally more than anything,” Morris said. “I think we’re getting better as the games go on.”
Columbus girls 73, Noxubee County 16
Columbus girls basketball coach Yvonne Hairston wanted to make sure her team wouldn’t lose focus on winless Noxubee County with Friday’s game at Starkville soon to come.
“We’re so young, we can’t look over anybody,” she said.
Hairston and the Falcons accomplished that task and then some. Columbus (5-2) held Noxubee County (0-8) to just four points in the second half in a 73-16 win Tuesday.
And while Columbus star senior Aniya Saddler led the way with 19 points, plenty of skill came from the same Falcons youth that had been inconsistent to start the season. All 15 Falcons saw the floor Tuesday, and freshman Shania Givens came off the bench to score 12 points and provide some offensive upside.
“We played her a lot tonight since we wanted to get some of that nervousness out of her,” Hairson said, noting that Givens’ inconsistencies were all but gone Tuesday.
Givens relished the chance to prove herself, having worked hard during the summer and the early season to earn playing time. Now she’s proven herself a key piece off the bench for Columbus.
“Everybody else got a chance to see what I see all the time,” Hairston said. “She’s a big-time player, and I’m excited to see her grow and mature into a great player.”
While the Falcons’ offense had success, their defense shut down the Tigers almost completely. Noxubee County never scored more than seven points in a quarter and was held scoreless in the fourth quarter entirely. Aaliyah Brandy led the Tigers with four points, and Jakeia Walker and Zacaree Rupert had three apiece.
“The girls didn’t come out with energy for the whole game,” Noxubee County coach Glenda Liddell-White said. “They were mentally somewhere else. … This game, it was just like they left all their energy at home.”
Columbus had no such problem, repeatedly zooming down the court to score easy layups in transition.
“We really focus on pushing the ball,” Hairston said. “We’ve gotta push the ball up the floor.”
With the lopsided win, Columbus can turn its attention to Friday’s game against Starkville, which Columbus beat 45-39 on Nov. 12 on its own home floor. It’ll be the final regular-season game against the Yellow Jackets for Saddler and the Falcons’ seniors, and they’re looking forward to it.
“It’s gonna be interesting,” Saddler said. “A lot of animosity. We’ve just gotta remain humble and relax.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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