Boys Basketball: Cody Davis' career-high 34 points lead Columbia to big win over Bay

BAY VILLAGE — Columbia senior Cody Davis played the game of his life Tuesday night to help the Raiders earn one of the biggest wins of the season. Davis scored a career-high 34 points as Columbia overcame a shaky start to defeat Bay 76-69. Columbia (13-4) stumbled early, committing seven turnovers in the first four minutes, but it recovered to start the second quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 26-16 lead. When the game was on the line, Davis was at his best, scoring 14 of the Raiders' 16 fourth-quarter points. He also ended the night with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. "My teammates fed me the ball in the right place," Davis said. "I was playing down low, even though I'm 6-foot-5 its usually hard for me to stay down low, but tonight I was able to do it and my teammates were able to find me. I was thinking about taking over the game, I was just playing basketball. My guys got me the ball and I tried to score." The Rockets, which dropped to 6-10 after their fifth straight loss, were led by senior Sam Houk, who scored 23 points despite not playing in the fourth quarter. Although the Rockets lineup has been ravaged by injuries, veteran coach Jared Shetzer didn't make excuses for his team's performance. "We didn't play good defense, which has been our M.O. for the last five games now. If that doesn't change we're going to get the same result," Shetzer said. "I just want our kids to play the right way and represent the program the right way." Senior Owen Payne and junior Carson Gergye were big in the second half for the Rockets, finishing with 14 and 11 points respectively. After taking a 3-point lead into halftime, the Raiders extended their advantage to 58-46 midway through the third quarter on a Frank Washburn 3-pointer. Every time the Rockets cut the Columbia lead to four or five points, the Raiders answered and extended the lead. "This a big win because Bay is a big school and we knew they were going to press us the entire game," Raiders senior guard Reese Miller said. "This game gives us a lot confidence with four big conference games coming up that we know we have to win." Miller had 17 points, including 10 in the second quarter. "We are all very unselfish, pass-first people so when we get the ball that just makes us that much tougher to guard," said Davis, whose previous career high was 30 earlier this season against Parma. "With the seeding coming for the tournament soon, hopefully this puts us in a good spot to get a good seed this year." Sophomore Nathan Borling also had 12 points for the Raiders. "Cody is such a hard guy to guard," Columbia coach Josh Scharf said. "When he gets to the rim he's extremely effective. They start to collapse on him and then it opens up the threes. "Our guys understand when we play Columbia basketball we can play with a lot of teams in the area. This solidified in our guys minds that when we play Columbia basketball we can do some good things." Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Columbia 76, Bay 69 COLUMBIA (76): Owen Menge 1-0-3, Cody Davis 11-8-34, Dante Cirigliano 0-0-0, Nathan Borling 6-0-12, Reece Miller 6-3-17, Vincent Berardi 2-0-4, Drexton Friscone 0-0-0, Frank Washburn 2-0-6. Totals 28-11-76. BAY (69): Tommy Mack 0-0-0, Sam Houk 7-7-23, Jack Moell 2-0-5, Brendan Spellman 1-0-2, Jace Knapp 1-0-3, Brandon Knaack 2-0-5, Carson Gergye 5-1-11, Evan Alexy 0-0-0, Owen Payne 5-2-14, Andrew Chesterfield 2-0-6. Totals 25-10-69. Columbia&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;24&emsp;&emsp;21&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;76 Bay&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;20&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;69 Three-point goals: Columbia (Davis 4, Miller 2, Washburn 2, Menge), Bay (Chesterfield 2, Payne 2, Houk 2, Moell, Knapp, Knaack). Field goals: Columbia 28-54 (52 percent), Bay 25-51 (49 percent). Free throws: Columbia 11-13 (85 percent), Bay 10-11 (91 percent). Rebounds: Columbia 32, Bay 26. Turnovers: Columbia 19, Bay 14. Total fouls: Columbia 12, Bay 14. Junior varsity: Bay, 62-39.