Story from I70sports.com’s Seth Whitehead–
6-foot-8 Division I prospect Sam Donald scored a game high 20 points — including a pair of breakaway dunks — and Columbia forced 30 Vandals turnovers, rolling past the Vandalia boys basketball team 57-32 at VCHS Tuesday night.
The Vandals had battled back from an early 9-0 deficit to take a brief 15-14 lead on a Tanner Robbins basket at the start of the second quarter, but Donald countered with a steal and a fast-break dunk to start a 15-3 Columbia run that had the Eagles (12-4) enjoying a 29-18 lead at halftime.
The Vandals (8-9) committed 10 turnovers in the second quarter alone to add gasoline to the fire, and unfortunately it was a similar story in the second half. Columbia blew the game wide open with a 16-4 advantage in the third quarter, fueled by eight more Vandalia turnovers.
Kohnor Depew led the Vandals with 11 points and a pair of steals, but VCHS suffered its third straight defeat to start 2024.
The Vandals will look to get back on track Saturday night when they host Flora in another nonconference tilt.
Vandalia Stats
Kohnor Depew — 11 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds
Wade Brannon — 9 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist
Tanner Robbins — 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
Isaac Sachan — 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 2 assists
Lucas Bowers — 2 points, 2 rebounds
Andrew Casey — 2 steals, 4 rebounds
Ian Whitehead — 2 rebounds
Brenton McCarty — 1 assist
