Boys open at Hanover

Last season was magical for the Columbia boys’ basketball team.
After losing their season opener at the Oxford Tournament, the Tide reeled off 20 straight win, dominated Section 4 and won the section title, took eventual L-L champ McCaskey to the wire in the league playoffs, got to play at the Giant Center and then battle a team that played for a state title tough until the final three minutes before falling in South Philadelphia.
Columbia opens its season tomorrow night against Newport in the Hanover Tournament. The other two teams in the tournament are Fairfield and Hanover, who the Tide crushed in the district playoffs last year. It might be the easiest part of the pre-season for the Tide. They have non-league games with Class AAA power Eastern and Class A power Reading Central Catholic, along with two games in the Warwick Tournament against the host Warriors and either Lancaster Catholic or Wilson the next night.
Last year, the Tide went 26-5 overall and 17-1 in league play. They lost five of the top seven players from that team. The two returning players, who need to step up their games are Yahya McInytre and Derrick Smith.

For more, read this week's Columbia Ledger.