Sammy Smith knows the expectations are there this season for the Columbus High School boys basketball team.
Part of the anticipation for the Falcons revolves around the fact Smith has a long, athletic team with plenty of size. Those physical qualities make Smith excited for his team, too.
But the veteran coach also knows that the 2014-15 Falcons don’t have something that last season’s team had: Experience.
“The talent level is better, but the chemistry is not there,” Smith said. “In order to get the chemistry, you have to play, you have to play, you have to play.”
Smith believes his team’s lack of experience showed in the fourth quarter in losses to Starkville and Madison Central. The losses dropped Columbus to 7-2 on the season and 0-2 in Class 6A, Region 4, District 4, but he remains confident his team will find its rhythm and realize the potential everyone sees in it.
That’s why Smith feels every practice and every game his team can play will help it come together to make a run when the postseason arrives. Smith hopes Columbus will continue to make those strides this weekend when it plays host to the 18th annual Joe Horne Columbus Christmas Invitational. The two-day boys and girls event kicks off at 1:20 p.m. Friday with eight games in the school’s two gyms. It will continue with nine more games Saturday. Action kicks off at noon.
Columbus will play host to Marion (Ark.) High at 8 p.m. Friday and Lowndes County rival New Hope at 8 p.m. Saturday. Starkville, Aberdeen, New Hope, and West Lowndes are the other area boys teams that will participate. The Columbus, West Lowndes, New Hope, and Starkville girls also will compete in the tournament.
The event is named in memory of Horne, a longtime supporter of Columbus High basketball and athletics.
Columbus has 10 players on its 15-player roster that are 6-foot-3 or taller, but the Falcons only have four seniors. This season, Smith has relied on a junior-heavy starting lineup and freshman Robert Woodard. He liked what he saw in the team’s season-opening seven-game winning streak, but he wants to see a killer instinct in his players after they had chances to beat Starkville and Madison Central in the fourth quarter.
“We have to learn how to close games, and we have to learn how to close games fast,” Smith said. “Until we do that, we’re going to have some bumps in the road.”
Smith hopes the bumps don’t come this weekend in one of the state’s biggest and best basketball tournaments. By no means is he shying away from the expectations, but he knows his team will be much better in 2015 than it has been in 2014.
“We have no starters back from last year,” Smith said, “but we have more talent. That is a lot of minutes that we have to replace, but I think we are going to do it and these guys are going to come together.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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