Q Had the Answers

<p>In defeating Ravenwood 58-56, Columbia Central captured the first ever District 12-4A Tournament Championship days after winning the District 12-4A Regular Season Championship.</p> <p>I asked Q what he thought of this new district and their chances December 1st, 2021.</p> <p>"In my opinion, we can play with Ravenwood and Independence and I believe we can come out on top in this new district this year," said Q Martin December 1.</p> <p>His opinion is now a fact and a historical first.</p> <p>Q = MVP^2</p> <p>Columbia Central improved to 24-3 and the Raptors fell to 20-9. Both have legitimate hopes of winning the Regional Tournament next week.<br /> These players featured below played the key roles Saturday night.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1280330" first="Jake" last="Mulder"] (Ravenwood)</strong></p> <p>Ravenwood began the second half down 32-27. Immediately, they ran a play for [player_tooltip player_id="1280330" first="Jake" last="Mulder"]. The gainly forward put a dribble to the deck, powered up, and finished strongly with a class left-handed scooped layup.  On the defensive end, Mulder altered Columbia’s only early third quarter close-range attempt.  Minutes later Mulder roofed #2 COLU like a volleyball middle blocker. If there was a weakness regarding Mulder’s play it was only that he did not get many final quarter touches.  Ravenwood is, outside of Beech, middle Tennessee’s most balanced team 1-6.  Still, Mulder is so bankable figuratively and his shot is so bankable literally that the Raptors can not afford to forget him  </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1022620" first="Ahqzeea" last="Martin"] (Columbia Central)</strong></p> <p>Martin’s explosivity guaranteed the game would be flush with highlights.  The dunk of the night came late in the third quarter after a turnover near midcourt.  When give, or after he takes space, Martin is electric in the open floor.  This time was no different. He punished the rim with a high-flying two-hand boom. Martin finished with 22 points in an enormous game.</p> <p>"I was just letting the game come to me," said Q Martin, "They were sagging off when I caught it on the perimeter and I was just shooting the three ball with confidence. When they started to come out I would go around and get to the bucket."</p> <p>With 8.4 seconds left, Martin strode to the free throw line, up just 55-54.  Martin rimmed in his first.  He clanged the second, allowing Ravenwood an opportunity to win it with a three-point buzzer-beater.  Give credit to Q for listening to his coach and not pouting after the miss, because he fouled and slowed the attack, forcing Ravenwood to run an out of bounds play.<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/02/QMartin.jpg"><img class="alignright size-large wp-image-1390325" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/02/QMartin-394x1024.jpg" alt="" width="394" height="1024" /></a></p> <p><strong>Roni Bailey (Columbia Central)</strong></p> <p>The second half did include a couple of scares for Columbia Central. Firstly, they exited the halftime locker room stagnant offensively.  They played a little flat.  Bailey gave effort where there was almost none.  Later in the quarter, Bailey hit a motivational three-point basket.  He followed it up shortly with a startling block on an opposing three-point shooter.  Bailey sprung like a grasshopper into the sky, stunning the calm, perhaps too calm, shooter.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="996074" first="DJ" last="Starr"] (Ravenwood)</strong></p> <p>Down five points in the final minutes, DJ cut sharply to the basket along the baseline.  He found a sliver of space and hope, acrobatically leaned to bank it off the glass. Whistle?! And Starr made the basket.  Central</p> <p>DJ did it against with under 11 seconds, narrowing the game to 55-54.  Ravenwood did everything right from the 5-point deficit. Foul. Hope for misses. Sprint up the floor.  Score quickly. Timeout.  Starr executed the key score points quickly part twice.</p> <p>With merely six seconds left in the game, Starr was granted one more chance to drive and score quickly.  He did everything perfectly again! Until the soft layup danced just long off the rim. Just like that Starr forgot his other successes and lowered his head. Crushed.  As the team’s shook hands, Starr’s shoulders sagged, his head lowered.  The potential overtime-inducing layup missed and Ravenwood lost their last breath, the hope of finalizing a crisp albeit unlikely comeback dead.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>District Tournament Champions</strong></span><br /> Columbia Central</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Runners-Up<br /> </strong></span>Ravenwood Raptors</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">All-Tournament Team<br /> </span></strong>Tyus Anderson (Independence)<br /> [player_tooltip player_id="1390290" first="Issac" last="Power"] (Summit)<br /> [player_tooltip player_id="1280330" first="Jake" last="Mulder"] (Ravenwood)<br /> AJ Pillow (Columbia Central)<br /> Q Martin (Columbia Central)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="996074" first="DJ" last="Starr"] surpassed 1000 career points.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Coach of the Year<br /> </strong></span>Columbia Central Nick Campbell</p>