On paper, Friday’s boys basketball contest between crosstown rivals Columbus North and Columbus East was virtually even.
That proved to be the case.
Late in the fourth quarter, it came down to the free-throw shooting, and it was the Olympians that prevailed with a 64-62 win over the Bull Dogs.
This marked the first time since 2011 that the visiting school was victorious in the rivalry game and the first time since 2006 that East won at North.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“The feeling is indescribable, and I really have no words for it,” said East senior Matt Frost, who finished with a team-high 21 points.
With less than a minute to go in regulation, Jacob Pierce hit two free throws to increase the Olympian lead to 59-56. Blake Barker then scored a layup for the Bull Dogs to cut it to 59-58. Pierce again would knock down two free throws to make it 61-58.
After North came up empty on its possession, East’s Drew Johnson converted one of two free throws to make it 62-58. Barker scored again to cut it to 62-60, but Johnson knocked down two more free throws. Barker then hit a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc with 2 seconds left, but the Bull Dogs were out of timeouts and unable to stop the clock.
“No. 1, you have to get (to the line), then you have to knock them down,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “(Pierce) is a scorer. He’ll step up there and knock them down, and we have all the confidence in him to do that.”
In the first quarter the Olympians (2-2) possessed a 12-8 lead with less than a minute left in the first quarter, but Trenton Kelley scored a layup with about 40 seconds left for the Bull Dogs (4-3) to make it 12-10 after the first quarter.
North came out with intensity in the second quarter when it went on a 17-2 run to go ahead 25-14 with just over four minutes left in the second quarter. East, however, fought back with a 9-0 run of its own to cut the Bull Dog lead to 25-23. At the half, North led 29-25.
Patrick McKinley scored the first basket of the second half to increase the lead to 31-25. The Olympians then scored seven straight points to take the lead at 32-31. Neither team led by more than three points for the rest of the third quarter, but the Bull Dogs held a 43-42 lead going into the fourth.
Early in the final period, North went ahead 48-43 after a Reese Harmon 3-pointer. East came back to score nine consecutive points to take the lead at 52-48.
Barker converted two free throws and a 3-pointer to give the Bull Dogs a 53-52 lead with just over two minutes left in the game. The game was tied at 56-56 with just over a minute left to go in regulation, setting up last minute sequence.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” Frost said. “Daniel (Murphy) stepped up and took two big charges, Pierce with the free throws and (Tyler) Boyer playing great down low. Our defense was amazing.”
Free throws were huge in the final outcome of the game. North went 7 for 12, while the Olympians shot 20 for 27.
“At some key moments, we missed some big free throws. We played a pretty good basketball game, overall, if you take out the missed free throws and some decision making down the stretch,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “When you do that, you’re going to lose a tight basketball game.”
For the Bull Dogs, Barker finished with a game-high 29 points and Trenton Kelley added 15.
Frost finished with 21 for the Olympians, and Pierce added 10.
“We’ll recover from this. East is a really good team. It’s not like we played bad, but a lot of respect goes to East,” Barker said. “We’re going to have to be focused for our next couple games. We’ll recover. It is a big loss since it is a rivalry game, but we’ll definitely recover from this.”
