The Columbia Eagles picked up a nice early season win Saturday night in the championship of the Wesclin Tournament, defeating Nashville in double overtime, 67-61, to win the title.

Columbia finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, toppling the top-ranked Class 2A team in the process. The Eagles defeated Lebanon last Tuesday, lost to Wesclin on Nov. 29 and opened with a win against Madison on Nov. 28.

“It was a very nice win for our young group of players,” Columbia head coach Mark Sandstrom said.

The Eagles trailed by 11 points in the third quarter, but battled back with timely shooting and hard-nosed defense.

“This group is very competitive, and it showed on Saturday when their backs were against the wall,” Sandstrom said. “We won the rebound battle on the glass even though we were undersized with their front line of 6-foot-6, 6-foot-6, and 6-foot-7.”

Korbin Farmer led the way for Columbia with 21 points and 13 rebounds, including 13-for-16 shooting from the charity stripe. He also made two key blocked shots in the second overtime.

Jonny Holmes continued his early season hot streak, scoring 17 points with a great outside shooting touch.

Drew Huebner and Ryan Gudeman added 10 points in the win.

Farmer, Huebner and Holmes were named to the all-tourney team.

“Korbin Farmer and Drew Huebner did a nice job battling against their good front court players and were very deserving of their all-tournament team selections, as was Jonny Holmes with his scoring performance throughout the tournament,” Sandstrom said.

Zach Mathews made three big three-pointers in the second half, Sandstrom added.

“We still have a lot of improving to do — especially with taking care of the ball,” he said.

In three games against quality opponents, Columbia has committed 19, 17, and 16 turnovers.

“We are looking forward to our three-game homestand coming up against Wesclin (Dec. 12), Pleasant Plains (Dec. 13) and Red Bud (Dec. 16),” Sandstrom said.

Hawks lose to Panthers

After starting the year with a tournament on the road, the Gibault Hawks played their first home game Friday, falling 54-44 to Pinckneyville.

Brian Deterding led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds. Jacob Rueter added eight points and Trevor Davis and Zach Rueter chipped in seven points apiece.

Gibault led 17-12 after the first quarter, but the Panthers struck back in the second quarter, pouring in 15 points while limiting the Hawks to just six. Pinckneyville took a 27-23 advantage into the half.

The Hawks came out strong in the second half, outscoring the Panthers 12-9 to cut the deficit to one heading into the final frame.

But Pinckneyville didn’t panic. The Panthers held Gibault to nine points in the fourth quarter, and took care of business at the free throw line to pull away for a 10-point victory.

Gibault coach Dennis Rueter said defense was the key to the final result. After allowing several open shots in the first quarter, Pinckneyville stepped up the intensity and shut down the Hawks’ offense.

“We got off to a fast start but then we hit a lull,” Rueter said. “We didn’t do too well defensively in the fourth quarter.”

The Hawks were coming off a second-place finish at the Metro-East Lutheran Thanksgiving Tournament.

After wins against Morrisonville, Gillespie and Marquette, Gibault eventually ran out of gas in the final, falling 56-52 to Piasa Southwestern.

The Hawks are now 3-2 on the year, and Coach Rueter is looking forward to seeing his team develop while working out some growing pains.

“We’re really inexperienced right now,” he said. “We’ve made some poor decisions at critical times and it’s cost us some games. But that’ll get better over time.”

Gibault will travel to Metro-East Lutheran this weekend.

Waterloo still winless

The Waterloo Bulldogs are searching for some offense following an 0-5 start.

On Friday, the Bulldogs led 14-4 at home against Jerseyville early in the second quarter, but failed to sink shots for long stretches after that in a 43-31 loss.

“We are having trouble scoring the basketball,” Waterloo head coach CJ Cruser said. “We have not shot the ball well at all.  We have not defended up to our standards here, and that has made it difficult to win because of the lack of scoring punch.”

Cruser said his team is looking at ways to get some easy baskets.

“We have competed at spurts, but we have not put an entire game together yet,” Cruser said.

Waterloo began its season with losses to four tough teams — Althoff, Highland, Edwardsville and Carbondale — in a Highland tourney.

Rick Wiegand leads the team with a 9.4 points per game scoring average.

The ‘Dogs played Tuesday night at Freeburg and will play Friday at Triad.

Valmeyer wins at home

The Pirates improved to 4-3 on the season with a 52-50 win at home on Friday against Valley Park.

Valmeyer outscored its opponent 16-8 in the fourth quarter to pull out the narrow victory. Eric Smith scored 16 points and Zach Williams added 15.

For the season, Ryan Unterseh leads the team with a scoring average of 16 points per game.

The Pirates hosted Lebanon on Tuesday and will play at New Athens on Thursday.