Sunday, January 24, 1999

Columbian downfall continues at Madison

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

MANSFIELD - People have a lot of phrases for what is happening to the Columbian basketball team these days.

Sayings such as ''Murphy's Law,'' and ''snowball effect'' are good ways to describe the Tornadoes lately.

For the second consecutive night Columbian found itself in position to win a basketball game, and for the second consecutive time it snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Tornadoes went on a 12-0 run between the third and fourth quarters to open up a five-point lead, but nine fourth-quarter turnovers opened the door for a 62-53 Madison victory.

''We said going into the Galion game (Friday night), we talked over and over again, that we have to keep grinding and keep grinding and just keep playing so we can put ourselves in position to win the game,'' Columbian coach Matt Hutchinson said. ''And once again nobody stepped up to make the plays.''

Neither team led by more than five points until the Tornadoes (4-4) made a run at the Rams near the end of the third.

Madison had its largest lead (35-30) with 2:47 left in the third quarter when TC's Todd Focht banged home a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 35-33. Nate Nahm then split two at the foul line with Beau Carmon scooping up the miss and sticking the putback to put the Tornadoes on top, 36-35.

Craig Hill and Kyle Albert added buckets before Madison's freshman point guard, Ryan Pore, layed two in before the buzzer to make it 40-37 in TC's favor heading into the fourth.

From there the lead grew to 46-41 thanks to buckets by Carmon, Albert and Focht in the first two minutes.

But then, the peverbial wheels fell right off.

Pore and Phil Messer both knocked down 3s to put the Rams back on top. Greg Hoke knotted it at 47, but Madison went on a 7-2 run, with four of the points coming directly off TC turnovers.

That made it 54-49 with 1:48 remaining and TC never seriously threatened afterward.

''I was really proud of the way our kids stuck with it,'' said Madison coach Dennis Bartlett, whose team was coming off an 84-25 pummeling at the hands of Mansfield Senior. ''We just ran into a buzzsaw last night, but our kids bounced back and played well tonight, especially in the fourth quarter. We've been playing some pretty good basketball, and I'm glad to see our kids rebound from last night.''

For the second straight game Columbian's post play was all but negated. Craig Hill scored 14 points, but did not grab a single rebound, and Beau Carmon was riddled with foul trouble and had just seven points.

Todd Focht led all TC scorers with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Albert and Nate Nahm, who spelled Carmon in the first half, both pitched in seven points.

Josh Kentosh led the Ram attack with 15 points. Messer was next with 13, and Tim Mergel contributed 13.

''When you begin the season everybody's 0-0, and everybody's excited about the season'' Hutchinson said. ''If you lose one or two early you can still be fired up. But at this point in the season you lose a couple and it can put you in a rut.

''Right now we need somebody to step up and get tired of losing instead of accepting it,'' he said. ''Tonight, for 24 minutes we did excactly what we needed to do to win the game.''

But it was all downhill from there.