Despite a slow start to both halves Friday night, Columbus East had its chances at the end against Perry Meridian.
But like they had experienced most of the night, the Olympians couldn’t get shots to fall. That allowed the Falcons to hang on for a 44-39 boys basketball victory.
“We have to finish,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “We had chances, but I did not like our effort in the first half at all. The second half, we were more attacking and got after it, but the first half, that’s not the Columbus East Olympians.”
The Olympians (3-4) fell behind 13-5 six minutes into the game. But then East scored the next 10 points in a 14-2 run that gave them a 19-15 lead midway through the second quarter.
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Perry Meridian (6-5) answered by scoring the final 12 points of the first half to take a 27-19 lead. The Falcons then opened the second half with a 7-3 spurt to take their largest lead at 34-22.
“It was like (the Olympians’ loss at) Fishers,” Chitty said. “We didn’t come out with any energy or effort. We tried to win the game in one half, and you can’t do that, especially against a team that was as disciplined as they are.”
The Falcons still led 40-29 early in the third quarter, but East held them scoreless until 39 seconds remained in the game. During that span, the Olympians managed an 8-0 run, but converted only one basket after Perry Meridian missed three consecutive one-and-ones.
Matt Frost finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to lead East, which shot 41.2 percent (14 of 34) from the field.
“We had some shots we didn’t knock down,” Chitty said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. I thought we settled for a lot of early 3s instead of trying to be aggressive and attack. But they’ll have to figure it out. Otherwise, with the teams we play, it won’t work.”
