Columbus East’s Ben Sylva drives to the basket between Trinity Lutheran’s Eli Ballard (12) and Kowan Gross (20) Friday in the Orange Pit at Columbus East at High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Columbus East came out with a lot of intensity to start the second half Friday night.
The Olympians went on a huge run to start the third quarter, and tie that in with the spurt at the end of the second quarter, East ran away with it with a 66-36 boys basketball victory over Trinity Lutheran at the Orange Pit for their first victory of the season.
“I was pleased with the way our guys stepped up. I told our guys, defensively, we did a good job in the first half,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “I thought our guys did a great job in the second half attacking the basket.”
The score was 13-11 early in the second quarter when the Olympians (1-2) went on an 11-0 run to open up the lead to double digits at 26-11. They led 26-13 at the half.
East opened up the second half with another 11-0 run to balloon the lead to 37-13 to eventually seal the game.
Ben Sylva led the Olympians with a game-high 23 points. He didn’t make a 3-pointer in the game, but it wasn’t needed since he got to the basket in transition and found open lanes to finish at the rim.
“We got steals that led to quick fast-break points,” Sylva said. “Overall, this is by far our best rebounding game of the season. We usually give up too many offensive rebounds, and tonight, I think we eliminated that, and that helped a lot too.”
Balanced scoring also became a factor in the win for East. Julius Dailey and Keaton Lawson finished with 10 points apiece and Zane Moravec added eight.
For the game, East hit only one shot from the perimeter and that came late in the fourth quarter when the game was decided. It wasn’t because the Olympians were ice cold shooting beyond the arc, but more that they found better looks in the paint.
“We‘ve got kids that will play hard, and we’ve got kids that like to play, and they’re fun to coach,” Chitty said. “We’ll take balance, we’ll take defensive pressure and block out and rebounding. If we can win by 20 or 30 and hit one 3, that would be fine with me too.”
For Trinity (0-2), Eli Ballard finished with a team-high 12 points. Luke Coomler and Kole Shewmaker scored eight apiece.
Next up for the Olympians is a road game tonight against Southwestern (Hanover), while the Cougars host Hauser tonight. Both are approximate 7:30 p.m. tipoffs.
Columbus East 66, Trinity Lutheran 36
Trinity Lutheran;9;4;11;7;—;36
Columbus East;13;13;27;13;—;66
Trinity Lutheran (0-2): Levi Froedge 0 0-0 0, Kole Shewmaker 3 1-2 8, Eli Ballard 5 0-0 12, Kowan Gross 2 2-2 6, Luke Coomler 3 0-1 8, Peyton Pollert 1 0-2 2 Josh Conrad 0 0-0 0, Charlie Hackman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 3-7 36.
Columbus East (1-2): Zane Moravec 4 0-0 8, Ben Sylva 11 1-2 23, Keaton Lawson 4 2-2 10, Daniel Coriden 2 0-0 5, Jake Gilbert 1 0-0 2, Julius Dailey 4 2-5 10, Pete Coriden 2 0-0 4, Ethan Bumbalough 0 4-4 4, Henry Sims 0 0-0 0. Totals: 28 9-14 66.
3-point goals: Trinity Lutheran 5 (Ballard 2, Coomler 2, Shewmaker); Columbus East 1 (D. Coriden).
