Five of the six Columbus East senior boys basketball players had a chance to start on senior night Friday, and they made the most of their opportunity.
In a game the Olympians never trailed, East used a 15-0 run in the third and fourth quarters to break open a close game and post a 62-42 Hoosier Hills Conference victory against Madison.
“It was pretty cool,” said senior Drew Hasson, who led East with 12 points. “We’ve always been the ones that are watching all the seniors getting congratulated and sending them off. This is a lot different, but it’s an awesome experience.”
Senior Luke Poindexter, making his first career start, scored six points in the first quarter, which ended in a 12-12 tie. That was the only time the game was tied.
Poindexter finished with a career-high nine points.
“There’s nothing better than playing with my brothers,” Poindexter said. “I thought we had a good team game tonight. We just did what we do best.”
The Olympians (12-8, 3-3) started the second quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 21-14 lead. They still led 29-22 in the closing seconds of the first half before Madison’s Mason Welch hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to four.
After a Hasson basket to start the third quarter, Blair Holt hit a 3-pointer to bring the Cubs (8-14, 1-6) within 31-28. But then East ran off 15 consecutive points, holding Madison scoreless for nearly eight minutes.
“I think Madison is a very good shooting team, and they warmed up pretty good at the beginning,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “Then, I thought we tightened it down in the second half and didn’t give them a lot of opportunities offensively.”
Thomas Myers, the only senior who did not start, came off the bench to score 11 points for the Olympians.
“It was a little weird,” Myers said. “I had to loosen up once I got out there. But it was fine once we got started.”
East outrebounded the Cubs 25-12. Matt Frost led the Olympians with seven rebounds.
East also committed a season-low four turnovers.
“I think we’ve been taking pretty good shots,” Chitty said. “A lot of them didn’t fall in the first half, but we continued to take good shots, and they started falling for us in the second half, and I liked our energy. I like how hard we played the second half.”
