Columbus High senior Ashton LaPointe works around a Lincoln High defender at home on Dec. 4. LaPointe scored a career-high 21 points in Wednesday's road win at Norfolk.
Better ball security gave Columbus High more opportunities on Wednesday at Norfolk in the HAC Tournament consolation game. Many of those opportunities were taken advantage of by senior forward Ashton LaPointe.
The combination of the two gave Columbus a 63-50 win over its rival to the north. It also earned the Discoverers back-to-back wins over the Panthers for the first time in more than 15 years.
"We just didn't turn the ball over, so we kind of controlled the whole game," coach Jordan Hitchcock said. " ... Our guys played well. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well from three, but Ashton had 21, which had to be a career-high for him, and Ean (Luebbe) and Sam (Kwapnioski) played really well."
LaPointe's 21 was put together mostly in the second and third quarter where he had 13 of that total including a three-pointer. Luebbe and Kwapnioski tied for next best with 15 apiece. Luebbe had just four in the first half while Kwapnioski, in foul trouble, went scoreless in the first 16 minutes.
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But Luebbe eventually came alive to help answer a Norfolk run and Kwapnioski went 13 of 16 from the line, including 9 of 10 in the fourth to seal it.
"Our defense was really solid and forced them into tough shots," Hitchcock said. "We were able to work the ball around and get good shots."
Columbus held Norfolk to 1 of 11 shooting in the first quarter and limited leading scorer Kamari Moore to 0 for 10. He finished with 22 points but didn't have any at halftime and had to work for every bucket.
Despite the encouraging defensive start, Columbus itself was just 4 of 12 and only led 11-5. LaPointe scored three times in the paint in the second and CHS was up 21-18 at the break.
Norfolk came out after halftime and took the lead in the third thanks to a couple Moore threes, but Columbus responded with eight points from LaPointe and seven by Luebbe.
The Discoverers went back ahead and kept the lead the rest of the way thanks to an overall 24 of 33 afternoon of free throw shooting.
"We trapped (Moore) in ball screens and had a conscious effort to get the ball out of his hands," Hitchcock said. "We executed that pretty well and switched on a lot of actions that they run, kept the ball in front and forced tough shots over defenders."
Meanwhile, LaPointe took advantage of being one of the taller guys on the floor for once.
"It was also getting some confidence and belief in yourself," Hitchcock said. "The amount of work he puts in and the schedule he keeps through the end of the season last year, you're just so happy for a kid like that who's put all that work in. There's no guarantee you'll be rewarded, but to put that type of work in consistently and run into that reward, it's pretty cool to see it happen for a kid like that."
It's a win in the consolation round, over a 1-7 team, but also already more wins than a year ago and against a Maroon Cup rival.
"It's no doubt meaningful," Hitchcock said. "When you're coaching kids that do everything you ask and buy into everything that you're doing, you want them to get the reward so bad. That's extremely satisfying.
"We're nowhere near done, but we have taken a step forward as far as having poise and executing and finishing a game."
Nate Tenopir is the sports editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at sports@columbustelegram.com.
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Ball control, LaPointe lead Columbus over rival Norfolk - Columbus Telegram
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