Boys basketball: Columbia gets back on track with win over Wellington

WELLINGTON — Columbia ended a rough week on a high note. The Raiders bounced back from two tough losses to Keystone with an 83-63 win over Wellington on Saturday, completing their Lorain County League season. "Our team was feeling down after two losses in a row because that hasn't happened to us all season," said Columbia guard Brandon Fisher, who led the team with 20 points. "Our shots haven't been falling, so to see some of them go in this game helped a lot. We brought a lot of intensity on defense and it boosted our energy." Wellington (4-6, 4-6 LCL) hung with the Raiders for the first quarter, with five lead changes until the Dukes went up 14-9 on Wyatt Sasack's 3-pointer. The teams continued to trade buckets until Wellington led 17-14 with 2:17 to play. Columbia (10-4, 10-4) took control from there, ending the quarter with 12 unanswered points that ultimately stretched into a 20-0 run over a 3:32 span. Owen Menge kicked off the run with a 3-pointer and scored all five of his points for the game in the final minutes of the first. Fisher connected on his first field goal, a 3-pointer, and capped the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup. He scored 10 points during the stretch. Menge was starting in place of guard Trevor Hottell, who coach Larry Babcis said wasn't feeling well so he didn't travel with the team as a precaution. He added that he's hopeful Hottell will be back for the next game. "Everybody is dealing with all of this stuff this year so we just had to be safe rather than sorry," Babics said. "The other guys stepped up, the nine that dressed all played well. They all made great contributions whether they scored, rebounded or did whatever. It was a good bounce-back win and we've just got to keep trying to get better." Columbia pushed its lead to 47-26 before closing the quarter on a 10-0 run. The Dukes opened the third quarter with an 8-1 run that cut the lead down to 58-34. Jay Roberts, who tied for the team high in rebounds with eight, scored four of his 12 points during the run on an offensive putback and a dunk off a steal he took coast-to-coast. "Our young guys are starting to understand what it takes to be a varsity basketball player," Wellington coach Dan Gundert said. "We've been quarantined three times so we haven't been in much of a rhythm, but credit to our guys because they've stuck with it and are doing what they are supposed to be doing." Columbia responded with an 8-0 run, during which Vince Berardi connected on back-to-back 3-pointers. The Dukes answered that with 10 unanswered, including eight straight points from junior guard Jacob Weegmann, who led the Dukes in scoring with 14 points. "These past two weeks we've been playing pretty well," Weegmann said. "We've got six games in the next eight days so we're trying to string a few wins together. We've got to learn from our mistakes, get better conditioned and finish our shots. We missed a lot of shots today. If we can get all of that squared away I think we'll be good." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeneyCT on Twitter. Columbia 83, Wellington 63 COLUMBIA (83): Caleb Borling 3-1-8, Brandon Fisher 8-0-20, George Wilson 4-2-11, Owen Menge 2-0-5, Reece Miller 5-0-12, Cody Davis 2-2-7, Vince Berardi 5-0-13, Nathan Borling 2-0-5, Kevin Perrott 1-0-2. Totals 32-5-83. WELLINGTON (63): Cole Standen 5-3-13, Drew Unangst 3-0-6, Jay Roberts 6-0-12, Jacob Weegmann 4-4-14, Sean Whitehouse 1-0-3, Wyatt Sasack 3-0-7, Caleb Teague 1-0-2, C.J. Polen 2-0-4, Riley Reyna 1-0-2, Jacob Knapp 0-0-0. Totals 26-7-63. Columbia 26 31 22 4 &emsp;&emsp;— 83Wellington 17 9 &emsp;&emsp;22 15 — 63 Three-point goals: Columbia 14-43 (Fisher 4, Berardi 3, Miller 2, Caleb Borling, Nathan Borling, Davis, Menge, Wilson) Wellington 4-7 (Weegmann 2, Sasack, Whitehouse). Field goals: Columbia 32-77 (42 percent), Wellington 26-71 (37 percent). Free throws: Columbia 5-8 (63 percent), Wellington 7-16 (44 percent). Rebounds: Columbia 40 (Caleb Borling 11, Fisher 8), Wellington 37 (Roberts 8, Unangst 8). Total fouls: Columbia 18, Wellington 8. Turnovers: Columbia 12, Wellington 18.