Columbia Academy boys top Van Buren County in quarterfinals

MURFREESBORO — Columbia Academy used a strong second-quarter effort to seize control in Thursday's Class A quarterfinal, and the Bulldogs never looked back en route to a 78-69 victory over Van Buren County.

Nygil Arms was 8-of-10 from the field and finished with 23 points to lead Columbia Academy (27-6), which hit six of its seven 3-point attempts in the second half to help secure the win. Sophomore Carson Cary added 12 points.

“I’m always worried about them making a run because like coach said they shoot 3s really well,” said Arms, whose squad outscored the Eagles 18-4 in the decisive second quarter. “But I think our defense really got to them, and we realized what we needed to do to keep it going.”

Caden Mills finished with a game-high 30 points to lead Van Buren County (27-7), which pulled to within 66-58 on the junior guard's jumper around the four-minute mark. Frank Walker added 15 points.

Columbia Academy will face Harriman in Friday’s 6 p.m. Class A semifinal.

ReachMichael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-259-8262 and on Twitter@Murph_TNsports.