NIXA, Mo. -- Columbia Hickman recovered nicely from two tough defeats in the 85thNixa Invitational as the Kewpies crushed the St. Joseph Lafayette Fighting Irish, 73-39 to take seventh place in one of the toughest tournaments in the area.
Jimmy Whitt concluded a nice tournament as he scored 13 points to lead Hickman in the rout. The first quarter set the tone for the game, as Hickman led St. Joseph Lafayette 26-2 after the first eight minutes and appeared headed for a relatively easy victory. Lafayette rebounded to play a respectful second quarter, as the offensively challenged Fighting Irish outscored Hickman 17-14 to make the halftime lead for Hickman 40-19. St. Joseph Lafayette played the game without the services of key contributor Jeff Leeson, which only compounded Lafayette’s offensive problems.
The second half some more of the same problems affect St. Joseph Lafayette, as Columbia Hickman used the outside shooting of Jimmy Whitt and the strong interior presence of Da’Quan Dixon and El Dorema to keep the Fighting Irish off guard.
Caleb Bates and John Lucas helped to keep St. Joseph Lafayette active on the offensive end, yet the Columbia Hickman offense was too much for the Lafayette defense to contain. Columbia Hickman scored 33 points in the second half to go along with a nice 40 point first half, and held Lafayette to only 20 second half points as the Kewpies cruised to the 73-39 win.
St. Joseph Lafayette failed to score more than 40 points in each game of the tournament, as they only managed games of 40, 33, and 39 points.
Jimmy Whitt led Columbia Hickman with 13 points for the game, and Da’Quan Dixon and Chris Clark contributed 11 and 12 points, respectively. For Lafayette, D’Andre Talton led the team with 12 points, and John Lucas and Caleb Bates both scored 10.
