Four of their top six players missed the first two weeks of practice due to success on the football field, which included a district championship and a berth in the state playoffs.

And when Nick Nobile, Seth Lefever, Mike Burke IV and Will Kreiser did make the transition from gridiron to hard court, none were in what Columbia head coach Mark Wisler calls "basketball shape." Additionally, the latter three were dealing with injuries ranging from a sore elbow (Lefever) to pneumonia (Burke) to a concussion (Kreiser).

Small wonder that Wisler looks back on the opening weeks of the Crimson Tide's campaign and cringes.

"It seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he said. "We had to weather the storm early."

Indeed, nine games into its season this Tide was ebbing, at 4-5 following a 61-54 loss to Steelton-Highspire on Dec. 28.

But the new year brought new results, and Columbia won 10 of its next 11, losing only to Section Four rival Lancaster Catholic. Just like that, the season was salvaged, and now the Tide heads into the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs liking its chances for Tuesday's opening round and beyond.

"We like to think we have as good a chance as anybody," said Wisler, whose squad closed the regular season winning eight of nine.

"Hopefully we can build on our momentum. We'll try to build on it and keep it going."

Columbia's momentum seemed to reach high tide when it took a late lead into its rematch with Catholic last Monday in Lancaster. The Tide led by four with less than four minutes left and by two with just over two minutes to go.

But a pair of 3-pointers — the first by Robby Rowe from the right wing and the second from Bryan Rivera in the right corner at the buzzer — proved decisive in a 50-47 final that denied the Tide a first-place tie.

It was just the second defeat Columbia has endured since its loss to Steel-High Dec. 28, meaning the Tide has gone 11-2 since.

And they've done it despite employing one of the shortest rotations in the league. While the majority of L-L teams use 8-10 players per game, Columbia gets by with six, sometimes seven.

"We just try to get the most out of these guys," Wisler said.

By all accounts, they do. Three-fifths of the Tide's starting rotation is scoring in double figures, and a fourth — guard Anthony Rosado — is at 9.8.

Backcourt mates Nobile (17.0) and Olajahwon Michael (11.4) have combined for 590 points and 56 3s. The 6-foot-3 Burke (11.8), 6-foot-4 Kreiser and 6-foot-2 Lefever head a frontcourt Wisler calls the biggest he's coached in his 10 years at Columbia.

Guard Mike Rider is most often the Tide's second man in after Kreiser.

"Around mid-January things started to come together," said Wisler. "You could see improvement. Everybody started to get comfortable in their roles."

And in the process, made games very uncomfortable for opponents. Since the new year, Columbia has outscored its opposition by an average of 16 points per game.

In that 13-game span they've held opponents to 50 points or less nine times and 39 or less four times.

The Tide's second-half surge has led to a No. 2 ranking in the District Three Class AA Power Ratings. It also has the team, and the town, riding a wave of optimism.

"This is our first trip to the league playoffs since 2008," said Wisler. "The town's behind us. We're ready to go."

egruver@lnpnews.com