The Forrest Rockets travelled to Columbia Academy Tuesday night for a Hall of Fame kickoff game and got off to a slow start before trying to play catch-up, but could not get over the hump and lost 56-39.

"I thought we played hard, we didn't quit, and even though we got down early we didn't lose our focus and we battled," said FHS head coach Wes Hobbs. "They had a couple of players that present huge matchup problems and I thought our guys did a nice job of making some adjustments during the game and executed a good portion of our game plan."

Good effort

Forrest came in the season opener short-handed in the low post because of injuries and the continuation of the football season, but junior Jake Townsend turned in an inspired performance, going toe-to-toe with Bulldog center Andrew Golden.

"Jake did an outstanding job tonight," said Hobbs. "Between he and (Kennedy) Mathis, along with our help-side defense, they held a 6'9 player to only 13 points."

Townsend bulled up to the 6-foot-9, 290-pounder, matching his 13 points in the low post.

"Jake scored some really tough baskets that helped break some of our scoring droughts," said Hobbs.

CA surge

An early Will Edmondson bucket gave the Rockets a 3-2 lead before Columbia surged and the Forrest went ice cold from the field to trail 13-3 after the first quarter.

"We didn't shoot well tonight, but on a positive note, we were getting good shots and ones that we want, we just have to knock them down," said Hobbs. "If you can see a few shots go in early, you can get into a rhythm and can continue that throughout the game, but we just couldn't seem to get comfortable."

Ty Hoeft heated up a bit to begin period number two, knocking down a jumper and a three-pointer to pull the Rockets within five points at 13-8.

Caleb Keller kept the Rockets close at 16-10 before back-to-back treys by Bulldog sharpshooters Hunter Cary and Christian Harris opened up a 10-point lead.

The Rockets fell behind by 11 points late at 27-16 before Keller nailed a trey, but the Bulldogs bit right back on a buzzer beating three-pointer by Brandon Parsons to take a 30-19 lead at the half.

Tough foe

Forrest could not make any headway in the third quarter and trailed 42-28, entering the final eight minutes of play.

Mathis and Townsend banged in buckets in low post to begin the fourth quarter, cutting the CA lead to 10 points at 42-32, but once again, the Bulldogs surged forward with a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 49-34 with three minutes remaining in the contest.

Townsend quickly sent a message that the Rockets were not going to fold the tent and go home when he muscled up to Golden in the low post, converting a three-point play the old-fashioned way.

The Bulldogs would complete the win, but Forrest got back on the bus with their pride intact.

Positives

"We have lots we can work on, but we have to take the positives from the game as well," said Hobbs. "We actually took care of the ball and executed our offense pretty well, and I'm very proud of the effort and heart our guys played with. We will never make excuses or place blame for an outcome, and they played that way tonight."

Hoeft finished with 11 points, Keller tallied seven, Edmondson netted four, and Mathis and Colton Cook added a deuce apiece.

Cary poured in 25 points for Columbia Academy to lead all scorers.