BATESVILLE — With Columbus East starter Chaz Painter missing in the lineup against host Batesville and with Thomas Myers picking up two quick fouls early in the game, there was a huge scoring void that the Olympians needed to fill.
It was no problem for Kyle Frost, who started in Painter’s place.
The situation also gave extra minutes to Matthew Frost and Drew Hasson, who took advantage of the opportunity as the trio picked up the slack and scored 16 of the Olympians 28 first half points.
The Bulldogs had a couple of runs in the second half, but the Olympians held the attempts off as they went on to post a 59-44 boys basketball victory.
The trio of Matthew Frost, Kyle Frost and Hasson finished with 34 of East’s point total.
Painter is dealing with some inflammation in his knee. East coach Brent Chitty said Painter needs extra rest and is day-to-day.
“Kyle stepped up and played his role with Chaz being hurt,” said Matthew Frost, who finished with 11 points. “Drew came in and performed really well for us. We just knew we all had to step up and play our roles.”
After putting up 19 points and almost leading East to a comeback victory against Bloomington South on Wednesday, Matthew Frost said his confidence is growing.
“I struggled a little bit at first but now I have gotten more comfortable with the team and playing a big varsity role and I have gotten a lot better,” he said.
Batesville (4-4) was shooting cold from the field in the first half and East was able to take advantage. The Olympians used the 15-5 scoring run in the first half to go ahead 26-20. Both teams went on a scoring drought the last three minutes of the second quarter, but the Olympians held on to a 28-22 lead at the break.
East (4-5) came out with a lot of energy to start the second half and in return they managed to go on a 10-2 run, which was capped off when Myers made the backdoor pass to Tanner McFall, who slammed it home to go ahead 38-24.
For the rest of the third quarter, the Bulldogs started getting aggressive and it helped them to a 10-3 run to end the third quarter and cut it 41-34.
The Bulldogs got it to within six at one point early in the fourth quarter, but that would be as close as they would get as later on in the fourth, Hasson did a lot of great work inside. He scored three consecutive baskets for East during a 10-2 run to put the game away.
“Defensively we got some stops and then our shot selection became layups,” Chitty said. “I thought in the second half, we buckled down a little bit and got a couple of spurts and then we kind of righted the ship. We got 10 guys that can play at any time depending on the situation that we feel is a good matchup.”
McFall led the Olympians with 15 points. Hasson finished with 12 points and Kyle Frost added 11.
