It earned some more Saturday night.

The Eagles got contributions up and down the lineup as they pushed past Wesclin 59-48 in the championship game of the Okawville Invitational at the O Rena on the campus of Okawville High.

“Our whole goal this season was as much hardware as we can,” sophomore forward Sam Donald said.

The No. 4 small school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Columbia (21-2) has competed in three tournaments this season and won all three.

The Eagles had to overcome a gritty performance Saturday from Wesclin (15-8) and junior center Seth Macke. The 6-foot-6 Macke was a monster in the paint and a puzzle the Eagles couldn’t solve. He scored a game-high 21 points as he showcased a variety of post moves when he needed to and at times he used his size and strength to snag a rebound and put it back up.

“When we have the opportunity to get it to him we want him to touch it every time down the floor,” Wesclin coach Brent Brede said.

Columbia led 22-18 at halftime as it worked its half-court sets to get the looks it wanted. They didn’t come easy as Wesclin’s defense was sticky and the Warriors limited the Eagles' second-chance opportunities. Macke had seven rebounds while senior guard Grant Finley hauled in seven rebounds to go along with 17 points and four assists.

Columbia held a 36-33 lead going into the fourth quarter as Wesclin continued to hang around.

“Coach Brede and I know each other well,” Columbia coach Mark Sandstrom said. “We’ve had a lot of different tangles. That’s what I expected from one of his teams. Always difficult, always grindy.”

Ultimately the Eagles depth overwhelmed the Warriors. Columbia had four players score in double figures as senior guard Jack Steckler led the way with 18 points. He also had four rebounds and three assists.

The 6-foot-8 Donald finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Dylan Murphy — who’s 6-foot-7 — had 14 points, six rebounds and three assists while 6-foot-5 freshman Brody Landgraf had 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

That type of production is hard to stop, especially when Columbia was content to work the ball and not get impatient with its offense.

“We handled pressure really well, we stayed composed. Once we did get it in the halfcourt we slowed down and got in our offenses and ran a lot of motion and executed,” Murphy said. “We were getting open because we were executing. There’s a lot of trust and chemistry within the team because we put in that work and have been in the gym together.”

Wesclin cut Columbia's lead to 41-38 when Macke scored a layup and was fouled with 6 minutes and 1 second to play in the fourth. His free throw was off target and Columbia put together a run that finished off the win.

Landgraf canned a 3-pointer a minute later to push the lead to 44-38 and then Donald knocked down a jumper. Murphy scored an old-fashioned 3-point play to push the lead to 49-38 with 4:02 to go. The Warriors kept chipping away but were never able to get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“Columbia is as good as there is in the south. I’d say they’re good enough to win the state tournament,” Brede said. “They don’t really have any weaknesses. They’re long, athletic, can shoot it well, so we were excited for the challenge. We knew we had a big hill to climb.”

Wesclin was fresh off a nice win over Class 1A state-ranked Gibault in the tournament semifinals Friday night. The Warriors were hoping to pull another tough win Saturday. They didn’t get the victory but Brede believes there were plenty of good things to take away from the tournament and Saturday night’s runner up finish.

“We played pretty well last night and we gave a pretty tough fight tonight,” Brede said. “We hope we can keep getting better and by the end of the year we’re playing the best we can.”

Columbia relished its third tournament title immediately afterward but it has no plans on making the trophy it was awarded Saturday night the last it collects this season. The Eagles have high expectations of themselves and all of this has been preparation for their ultimate goal.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to win those three tournaments. It doesn’t happen very often. Most teams if they win one in a season that’s awesome,” Sandstrom said. “Our team wants some postseason hardware. We have a very difficult sub sectional to get through with some really good teams. We just need to be playing our basketball the end of the season.”