Brentwood Academy's much-hyped 7-foot-1 phenom David Harrison came to town Monday night to battle Columbia Academy and proved he is as good as advertised. Harrison, who told The Daily Herald he has narrowed his collegiate choices to Vanderbilt, Colorado and North Carolina, pumped in a game-high 34 points to go along with 15 rebounds and five blocked shots in an 81-60 win over the Bulldogs.

"(Harrison) was very intimidating, and a lot of the players on our team were kind of scared of him," CA center Rodney Darden said. "When I started playing against him, I realized that he was a little bit slower than I thought he was. I had the ability to use some quick moves to get past him to the basket."

Columbia Academy, who has no player taller than 6-foot-4 Darden, could not prevent the Eagles' guards from throwing the ball into Harrison, who hit 17 of 21 shots from the field. "I thought we had a chance to beat them at first, but they had better players than I thought they had," Darden said. "We had a good strategy to front him, and I think we did a pretty good job."

Led by Harrison's 10 first-quarter points, Brentwood Academy (12-5) was able to jump to a quick 24-9 lead. The Eagles were able to maintain momentum, extending their advantage to 40-18 at half. Brentwood Academy put an exclamation point on the half with a two-handed Harrison dunk as time expired. A Neil Webb three-pointer to open the third quarter was the catalyst for a 7-2 run that cut the Bulldog's deficit to 42-25, but the Eagles had an answer.

A Scottie Reall trifecta started a 15-0 Eagles' run that featured eight points from Quinton Thompson. By the end of the surge, Brentwood Academy held a nearly insurmountable 57-25 advantage with 3:36 left in the third quarter.

The Eagles' lead would get as large as 35 points (62-27), the Bulldogs would not go away. Trailing 70-37 early in the fourth quarter, a Jonathon Fowler three-pointer ignited a 23-3 run that forced Brentwood Academy to reinsert its starters with 2:21 left in the frame. Those starters scored the game's final eight points to secure the victory.

"I was real proud of the effort in the fourth quarter," said CA girls' head coach John Kodatt, who was subbing for boys' coach Marty DeJarnette. DeJarnette was attending the funeral of his mother, who died Friday. "We hadn't had that kind of effort recently, and hopefully that will carry over."

Harrison's 34 points was complimented by Thompson's 27 points for the Eagles, who converted 22 points off of 14 CA turnovers. Darden had 24 points for Columbia Academy, with Webb adding 10 points. . With very few games being played Monday night, several county school's players were in attendance. Also in the crowd was Louisville head coach Denny Crum.