Ben Sylva
Columbus East played its first home boys basketball game in 32 days Saturday night after a four-game road swing, but unfortunately for the Olympians, the result was the same.
Jeffersonville hit seven of its first eight 3-pointers in the first quarter and went on to hand East an 89-54 Hoosier Hills Conference defeat.
“They’re a good team, and they can just flat shoot it,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “We had communication issues, and we didn’t get out and contest those 3s early. Then, we had to go to man, and our fear with man was that their size would really bother us, and it eventually did. It’s something we have to work on.”
The Olympians (1-12, 0-3) jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead, thanks to a pair of baskets by Julius Dailey and a three-point play by Pete Coriden. But then the Red Devils (8-6, 4-0) started hitting 3s and went on a 22-4 run to take a 25-11 lead.
East got back to within eight on two occasions early in the second quarter, but Jeffersonville extended its lead to 47-30 at halftime. The Olympians got it back to 14 three times early in the third quarter before the Red Devils pulled away.
“We played hard,” Chitty said. “We have to hit open shots. We got some good looks.”
Ben Sylva led East with 24 points. Julius Dailey had 13 points and five rebounds, and Ethan Bumbalough added eight points.
“I thought Julius really attacked the basket tonight,” Chitty said. “I thought Ben did a good job attacking the basket. I thought Zane did a good job. When you attack, you have to move, and then on defense, when the ball goes up, we have to move. We have to block people out.”
Jeffersonville 89, Columbus East 54
Jeffersonville;27;20;19;23;—;89
Columbus East;17;13;13;11;—;54
Jeffersonville (8-6, 4-0): Tre Singleton 5 0-0 11, Avery McDuffy 1 2-2 4, M.J. Bennett 0 0-0- 0, Ray Laird 1 2-3 4, Michael Cooper 8 1-1 21, Don Starling 0 0-0 0, P.J. Douglas 7 1-1 15, Conner Lyons 4 0-0 12, Monnie McGee 4 0-0 9, Gilley Polk 1 0-1 2, Shawn Boyd 3 0-0 6. Totals: 36 7-11 89.
Columbus East (1-12, 0-3): Mason Reeves 0 0-0 0, Zane Moravec 1 0-0 2, Jack Fischvogt 0 0-0 0, Ethan Bumbalough 3 1-2 8, Elem VanEst 1 0-0 2, Ben Sylva 10 4-6 24, Danny Coriden 0 0-0 0, Alex Wenzler 0 0-0 0, Jake Gilbert 0 0-0 0, Julius Dailey 5 1-1 13, Pete Coriden 1 1-1 3. Totals: 22 7-10 54.
3-point goals: Jeffersonville 10 (Cooper 4, Lyons 4, Singleton, McGee); Columbus East 3 (Dailey 2, Bumbalough).
