Columbia's full-court defense sparks victory over Ephrata

And Columbia doesn't bother to hide its game plan.

What's the point? You can watch the Crimson Tide for about two minutes and figure it out.

The Section 4 favorites are going to play man-to-man, apply full-court pressure and try to make the game frenetic.

"We go a full 32 minutes up in their face," point guard Colby Tuell said.

Since none of Columbia's top seven players is taller than 6-1, it's really the only approach coach Mark Wisler can use.

And it works.

Columbia put together a huge second-quarter run and knocked off Ephrata 63-53 in a non-league boys basketball game in Ephrata Friday night.

For an 8:03 stretch of the first half, the Tide outscored the Mounts 23-4 and forced them into nine turnovers.

If you wanted to make a scouting tape of Columbia at its best, this was it.

"We're pretty deep and we have a lot of experience," Tuell said. "We plan to put a lot of pressure on teams. That's how we practice. All we do is condition. That gets us ready for games. "

Give Columbia's players credit. They know their strengths. The team embraces its attacking style and funnels its offense through its two stars: guards Mike Seibert and Adam Pittman.

Pittman scored 20 points and Seibert added 13 against Ephrata. The duo is averaging a combined 38 points per game this season.

Ephrata coach Dave Dubbs voiced an opinion that will be heard often this winter: He said Columbia has one of the best backcourts in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

"They have some nice senior leadership," Dubbs said. "Any time you have two guards like Pittman and Seibert, you're going to be in a lot of ball games."

Columbia makes up for its lack of size by being explosive. The Tide is capable of getting quick points in transition and figures to be an excellent 3-point shooting team.

To beat Columbia, you'll have to keep pace with its offense because it's difficult to slow down.

"We have the capability of putting points on the board in a hurry," Wisler said. "Our problem is we get in lapses where we take bad shots and don't score a lot of points."

The second quarter wasn't one of those lapses.

"We played pretty well and that opened things up for us," Wisler said.

Columbia was ahead 36-23 at halftime. Ephrata tried to claw back. The Mounts twice cut the deficit to three points in the fourth quarter, but that's where the comeback ended.

Ephrata was playing its first game and it couldn't overcome some first-half sloppiness. Dubbs said he wished the Mounts had a few games under their belts before taking on Columbia, but the schedule didn't work out that way.

The result was a less-than-stellar showing.

"I was disappointed in the fact we had 20 turnovers and too many of them were unforced," Dubbs said. "I didn't expect that out of some of our players."

Columbia went on the road and defeated a big-school opponent that may qualify for the L-L League playoffs in February.

It was further evidence that this team is coming of age.

"Anytime you can play a Quad-A team, you have to take advantage of it," Wisler said. "To come in here and beat those guys, that's a great win for us early in the season."

Columbia is 2-1. Its loss came by two points against Academy Park, another Quad-A school that plays in the Del-Val League against powers like Chester and Glen Mills.

This season of high expectations is off to a solid start for the Tide, but the players aren't getting carried away.

"We try to keep a level head and keep everyone down to earth," Tuell said. "These last few years we haven't won anything. That has been our motivation."

Columbia sure looks like it's ready to win something this year.