Battling to extend their season, the Columbus Wildcats cut Lone Tree’s lead to 51-40 with an 11-4 run in the second half of Friday’s district playoff game. 

On the other end of the court, the ball swung to Lion senior Cade Shield, who was ready in the corner. His 3-pointer was good.  His next one came from the same spot and gave the Lions a new season-high point total, pushing the lead to 17. 

Shield finished with a career-high 20 points and four steals as the Lions avenged a pair of regular season losses to Columbus with the 65-50 win. 

“We just had to play good defense on them and shoot a little better than we have,” Shield said. 

Shield’s back-to-back 3-point makes put the game away for Lone Tree (7-16).

“That left corner over there is Cade’s spot,” Lone Tree coach Tom Squiers said. That’s where he hits the majority of his threes. So I wasn’t surprised when he hit that first one and then we got it to him that second time.”

The Wildcats (4-18) had scored in the 50s just four times all season before a 75-56 win at Lone Tree two weeks earlier. 

“It was kind of one of those games where everything they shot went in,” Squiers said. 

The Lions had 17 offensive rebounds in that game, but shot just 35 percent and 3-of-15 from the 3-point line. Columbus shot over 50 percent for the game and 10-of-20 from three. 

“There were times we had a hand in the face and they just made shots,” Squiers said. “It was just one of those nights that they shot it well. But, I think it also motivated us a little bit for this one tonight.”

On Friday, the Wildcats scored seven straight to take a 17-11 lead late in the first quarter. But the Lions became the aggressors in the second. After a pair of free throws, Shield and Cade Patterson both scored in transition off turnovers. 

“That’s what we’ve been working on all week,” Squiers said. “We worked a lot on pressure defense and getting the ball up and down the floor.”

Shield scored seven points in the second quarter as the Lions went on an 11-1 run. His converted a 3-point play to put Lone Tree on top 22-18.

“They don’t have as much depth as we do, and I think that was the key,” Shield said.  

Lone Tree led by just five in the second half when Patterson made a nice pass to Shield for an easy bucket, which was followed by Adam Knock putting a running shot off the glass.

“We wanted to beat them,” Knock said. “We didn’t didn’t want to lose to the same team three times, so we got a new plan on defense and changed some things offensively.”

Squiers said that the Lions’ 1-3-1 zone was effective for a while.

“We just haven’t worked on it enough to where it’s perfected,” he continued. “We were just giving up too many easy shots, and we went back to our basic defense. That helped us out a lot too.”

Drew Gauley was called for travel in the first quarter, trying to put the ball on the floor after a pump fake. Squiers motioned for him to take the next time. The next time he was open, he hit a 3-pointer. On the next trip, he found Mitchell Koedam for a layup during the 15-2 third quarter run. Gauley finished with eight points and five assists.

“Drew is just one of those kids, he’ll keep shooting,” Squiers said. “If I tell him to keep shooting, he will. He’s had some good games for us and he played really well tonight I thought.”

Patterson’s 3-point play, steal, and layup increased the lead to 47-29 and Lone Tree led by double digits the rest of the way. 

Patterson was 5-for-5 from the foul line and finished with 13 points and five assists. Tyler Bell scored 10 points in the first half and also finished with 13. Knock scored eight points and had three assists, leading the Lions with 10 rebounds .

Lone Tree had its five seniors on the floor together in the last few minutes. 

“It was fun,” Knock said about winning his final game in Lone Tree. “Our goal these last three games at home — we wanted to try to go 3-0. Well, we got two of them, and I’m happy with it.”