Peyton Walden
A young and inexperienced Columbus Christian boys basketball team couldn’t have asked for a much better start in its season opener on Saturday afternoon.
The Crusaders jumped out to an early 13-0 lead, then had to withstand a Clinton Christian comeback before pulling away at the end for a 56-42 victory.
“I thought our kids came out with a lot of energy,” Columbus Christian coach Kevin Roth said. “It’s a new squad and some younger guys. I thought our defense did a good job throughout the ballgame. Offensively, we have a lot of work to do. We have to get the ball moving a little bit more. But overall, I was very pleased for the first game.”
The Crusaders, who were missing returning senior starter Cam Pritchard, were led by their other two experienced players. Junior Peyton Walden put up 23 points and 12 rebounds, and senior Noah Edwards just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Noah Edwards
“It was just coming out with a lot of intensity and shooting the shots we know we can it,” Edwards said. “We have some young guys that have problems with confidence sometimes, but as long as they don’t hang their heads, they’ll be good. I have to remind them of that sometimes. As long as we’re confident, we’re good.”
Columbus Christian led 21-4 early in the second quarter before the Couriers closed the half with a 16-5 scoring run to get back within 20-20. The Crusaders stretched the lead back to 12 midway through the third quarter before Clinton Christian rallied to within 35-31 late in the third and 42-37 early in the fourth.
That’s when Walden took over, scoring three consecutive baskets inside, followed by a basket from Jordan Burton to stretch the lead back to 50-37 with 3:20 remaining.
“I just think it was being aggressive on defense and trying to get boards,” Walden said. “We need to focus more on defense because that’s what’s going to wins us games. After we stopped playing defense hard like that, they came back. Then we came back in the third quarter and got back on defense.”
Eighth-grader Jacob Bell scored nine points for Columbus Christian. Senior Jordan Burton, who is playing basketball for the first time in a couple years, added seven.
“Noah did a real good job with senior leadership,” Roth said. “I was proud of Jacob Bell and Cannon Carr coming off the bench. They gave us some good minutes.”
Columbus Christian 56, Clinton Christian 42
Clinton Christian;4;16;13;9;—;42
Columbus Christian;16;10;14;16—;56
Clinton Christian (0-1): Matthew Graber 0 0-0 0, Harrison Hull 0 0-0 0, Noah Watts 0 0-0 0, Austin Troyer 2 0-0 5, Jaron Avila 1 0-0 3, Anthony Schrock 0 0-0 0, Anthony Snyder 7 1-2 15, Josiah Frye 8 1-1 17, Ethan Ramer 0 0-1 0, Hayden Lower 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 2-6 42.
Columbus Christian (1-0): Adam Haines 0 0-0 0, Jordan Burton 3 0-0 7, Jacob Bell 3 2-3 9, Ben Hasley 0 0-0 0, Noah Edwards 5 1-2 12, Cannon Carr 1 0-0 2, Peyton Walden 11 1-2 23, Branson Carr 1 1-4 3, Jaxson Games 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 5-11 56.
3-point goals: Clinton Christian 2 (Troyer, Avila); Columbus Christian 3 (Burton, Bell, Edwards).
