Columbus East’s Will Rieckers, left, attempts to dribble past Shelbyville’s Jackson Parker during a basketball game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus East built itself a double digit lead in the first quarter, and looked well on its way to victory.
Shelbyville tried to spoil the plan in the second half by cutting it to two at one point, but the Olympians got the push necessary in the fourth quarter to come away with a 55-45 boys basketball win.
“They’re coming,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “We got beat by New Albany, but they played awfully well. Then, we just jumped on that. The Jennings County game was a big win for us… for our guys, we‘ve just got to keep it going.”
The win gives the Olympians a three-game winning streak heading into Friday’s contest with another winnable game against Madison, which will be the final home game of the season. East has surprised many people this season during the winning streak as they improve to 5-13 on the year.
“It’s kind of surprising, but at the same time, we kind of expected it. We were really putting in the work,” East junior Pete Coriden said. “It’s obviously paying off. We’re getting three wins when most people wouldn’t think that’s possible for us.”
East started out hot after the opening tip. The Olympians jumped out to an 11-2 lead that forced the Golden Bears (5-13) to call timeout. After the timeout, East expanded the lead to 20-6 until Shelbyville cut it to 20-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Will Rieckers helped grow the lead to 27-13 after three made baskets. The Golden Bears began to make their charge in the later stages of the second quarter. They hit four 3-pointers during a 14-2 run to close out the first half and trailed only 29-27 at the half.
The Olympians grew the lead to 34-27 until Shelbyville came back with a 5-0 run to make it 34-32. East then went on a 7-2 run to lead 41-34 and eventually led 43-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Golden Bears cut it to 45-43 early in the quarter, but the Olympians went on a 10-0 run to close out the game.
“The energy coming out of the locker room was unmatched,” Rieckers said. “Coming off two wins, it was great for us. We’ve been talking about instead of two in a row, make it three in a row and keeping it going and keeping it going for the playoffs. Our energy was very good, and we’re all excited to play.”
Rieckers finished with a game-high 21 points, while Ben Sylva had 17 and Pete Coriden added nine.
One thing to monitor heading into Friday’s game is the health status of starter Julius Dailey. Dailey came out of the game in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. Chitty elaborated that they erred on the side of caution with the injury. His status for Friday’s game is uncertain.
