On the eve of his final regular-season Columbus East-Columbus North boys basketball game, Drew Johnson stood in front of the Olympian student section with classmate Trevor Foster, dressed in dark suits, holding microphones with ESPN flags and pretending they were broadcasting the East-North girls game.
On Friday night, Johnson was in the middle of the action, and with the game on the line in the closing seconds, he had no stage fright.
Johnson got loose for a backdoor layup with 1:30 remaining to give the Olympians the lead, then hit 4 of 6 free throws in the final 1:01 to preserve East’s 64-62 victory before close to 5,000 fans at North.
“It’s the North-East game, so it’s a lot of pressure,” said Johnson, a senior point guard. “It’s the North-East game, so it’s nuts. It’s nothing I’ve ever experienced.”
Held scoreless through three quarters, Johnson scored all eight of his points in the final eight minutes. His first two points started a 9-0 run that brought the Olympians from a 48-43 deficit with 6:15 remaining to a 52-48 lead with 3:20 left.
East rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit. Following a 17-2 Bull Dog run that gave North a 25-14 advantage midway through the second quarter, the Olympians answered with a 9-0 run to retake the lead.
“The North-East game is a game of runs,” Johnson said. “Every time I’ve played, it’s a game of runs — teams going up and down. We saw it in the JV game, and coach (Brent Chitty) brought us in, and he’s like, ‘Hey, they just had a run. Now, it’s our turn to get our run.’ It was kind of that mentality knowing it’s our turn.”
Johnson, who led East with five rebounds, was far from the only star for the Olympians on Friday night. Fellow senior Matt Frost led East with 21 points. Seniors Carson Whitehead and Beck Kelley added nine and five points, respectively.
The key for East may have been its trio of sophomores. Jacob Pierce hit 4 of 4 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 points. Tyler Boyer added nine points, and Daniel Murphy hit two big fourth-quarter free throws to help the Olympians post their first win at North since 2006.
“It’s just the greatest feeling ever,” Frost said. “Our young guys stepped up a lot. We all played our roles, played our parts. Everything was just working out for us. I’m real proud of our young guys.”
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at [email protected] or 812-379-5628.
