MERRY HILL – The Warriors bounced back quickly.

Lawrence Academy’s varsity boys suffered a setback at Ridgecroft Tuesday, but just a day later they were back in the win column, defeating non-conference foe Columbia High School 42-40.

Darren Armstrong paced the Lawrence attack with 13 points while Jesse White was the only other Warrior in double figures with 11. Nathaniel Holton just missed that mark with nine points.

Ray-Von Basnight led three Wildcats in double digits with 11. K.J. Rawls and Kurtun Moore had 10 each.

The Warriors got out of the gate well, scoring seven unanswered following a game-opening three-pointer by Rawls. Armstrong and Holton hit back-to-back buckets followed by a White triple to make it 7-3.

Rawls buried another three-pointer to close the gap to one, but Holton scored from the floor and then Blake Stevens hit a triple as the Warriors surged ahead 12-6. They led 16-8 after one quarter.

The home team continued to hold the lead throughout the second quarter.

Basnight started the second period with a field goal that made it 16-10, but the visiting squad did not score again in the third quarter.

Armstrong scored to spark a 12-0 run over the remainder of the quarter. He was joined in scoring by Holton and White as the Lawrence lads cruised to a 28-10 lead at the intermission.

Columbia, however, turned the tables on Lawrence in the third quarter, holding the host squad to only an Anthony Rascoe hoop while rolling off 16 points of their own to close the gap to 30-26.

The fourth quarter held more of the same as Columbia surged back to close the gap to 35-34 on a Basnight hoop with just over a minute and a half to play.

Holton countered with a hoop, but Jarde Ariche scored to make it one point again with approximately a minute to play.

The Warriors then saw Ryan Lilley hit 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to give Lawrence a 40-36 lead with just 19 seconds to play.

Columbia then got a free throw from Moore before Armstrong sealed the win with two shots from the charity stripe with 11 seconds to play.

Ariche hit a three-pointer with three seconds left to close the gap to 42-40, but that’s how the game ended.

The win helped Lawrence improve to 7-14 for the season.