Columbus East’s Logan Neal, from left, East’s Anthony Cowan and Franklin’s Omari Thomas reach for a rebound during a basketball game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
When it looked like Tuesday night’s boys basketball game would come down to the wire early in the second half, Columbus East took command.
The Olympians put an end to the game by going on a 16-0 run in the second half to pull away for a 68-47 victory over sectional foe Franklin at the Orange Pit.
“We were really focusing on getting rebounds and focusing on defense because our defense creates offense,” East senior Keaton Lawson said. “We really didn’t play that good of an offensive game Saturday (in losses to Greenwood and Yorktown). We worked on it a little bit and watched some film over it. We had confidence in this game that we could score better than what we did Saturday.”
The Olympians (3-3) had a 14-11 lead after the first quarter. The Grizzly Cubs (5-5) took the momentum early in the second quarter with an 11-2 run to lead 22-16, but East charged back with an 11-4 run to close out the first half that ended with a Lawson buzzer-beating jumper to lead 27-26.
The score was 30-30 early in the third quarter. A 3-pointer from Graham Preizer gave East the lead for good at 33-30, which sparked a 19-1 run.
Preizer might have been the smallest guy on the floor, but he proved to be the most dangerous guy when he stepped on the hardwood. He hit five 3-pointers to score 15 points.
“The thing that people don’t understand about Graham is, I remember Graham my first year here when he came in as a freshman. He said, ‘I’m not the biggest, I’m not the best, but I’ll work harder than anyone else,’ and that stayed true,” East coach Perry Nash said. “He comes early and puts up some shots. He stays after and puts down shots. We do these shooting drills where we compared them not only every single day, but every week and every month. If he doesn’t get the score which he believes he should get, he’s going to spend even more time on his shot. Our guys see that and that’s contagious.”
Lawson and Carter Patterson matched Preizer in the scoring column, with the trio each ending with 15 points for the Olympians. Anthony Cowan was fourth player in double-figures for East with 10.
“After the Yorktown game, we really needed a full mental reset going into tonight,” Patterson said. “We got up as many shots as could in the short time frame that we had, and I think we made the best of the time we had preparing for this game, which actually led us into hitting shots today.”
The Olympians went 7 for 17 from 3-point range, while the Grizzly Cubs went 4 for 24 from beyond the arc.
“Their last two games, they made a total of one 3-pointer,” Franklin coach Adrian Moss said. “They had one guy make five tonight. We were trying to pack the paint in the first half, not let them in the paint, keep (Patterson) out of the paint. But they shot the ball well, so kudos to their role players for stepping up and making shots.”
Patterson grabbed eight rebounds to lead East to a 41-26 advantage on the boards.
“We have to shoot the ball better,” Moss said. “Second of all, I thought we got out-physicaled. We got in foul trouble early in the first half. We survived it, and I thought we were in good shape going to the half. But I just thought we got out-physicaled, we got out-toughed and out-coached. When it goes like that, you just have to be better across the board.”
The Olympians were without starting guard Judah Lewis, who sat out due to a back injury.
It’s that balanced scoring that will be necessary if East wants the hoist the sectional title in March.
“When we have the leadership that we do with Keaton and Carter, those guys are going to make plays,” Nash said. “I don’t know what the assists look like, but I bet you our assists are coming from those two guys. They trust our guys. They hit Graham many times, and he’s going to knock them down. For us, it’s our continual ball pressure. Our defense has to be consistent. We believe over the course of time, we’ll wear you down.”
Columbus East 68, Franklin 47
Franklin;11;15;5;16;—;47
Columbus East;14;13;17;24;—;68
Franklin (5-5): Tony Barnes 2 2-2 6, Trent Hall 2 1-1 5, Jaxson Doddridge 2 0-0 5, Jeremy Griffin 0 2-2 2, Luke Sherry 1 0-0 3, Omari Thomas 3 6-8 13, Drew Wertz 0 2-4 2, Melik Rasor 2 1-2 5, McCoy Bowman 1 3-5 6. Totals: 13 17-24 47.
Columbus East (3-3): Anthony Cowan 3 3-3 10, Graham Preizer 5 0-0 15, Keaton Lawson 7 1-2 15, Carson Gallion 1 0-0 2, Ben Ellegood 2 0-0 5, Logan Neal 1 0-0 2, Miles Broaddus 0 0-0 0, Logan Neal 1 0-0 2, Carter Patterson 6 3-9 15, Josiah Kiel 0 2-2 2, Carson Siegelin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 26 9-16 68.
3-point goals: Franklin 4 (Doddridge, Sherry, Thomas, Bowman). Columbus East 7 (Preizer 5, Cowan, Ellegood).
