Columbus East’s Carter Patterson shoots a layup during a game against Jennings County at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus East was back at full strength for Tuesday night’s boys basketball game against Mooresville, and while that game didn’t go the Olympians’ way, they were clicking on all cylinders Friday night against Jennings County.
East took until the final minute of the first quarter to get things going, but when they did, the Olympians showed the form it did late last season and early this season. It resulted in a 62-43 Hoosier Hills Conference win on senior night.
“I think that was one of our better games,” senior Keaton Lawson said. “We have goals for every game, and we hit a lot of our goals, more than all the other games. That’s really our main focus coming into the games — locking down on defense, rebounding, turning the defense into offense. Tonight, we did a really good job of locking down and forcing turnovers.”
Senior Carter Patterson returned from an elbow injury this week after East had gone 3-6 with him out of action. Patterson led the Olympians (7-10, 2-3) with 14 points Friday.
Patterson scored 13 of his 14 points in the second quarter, when East turned a 14-13 deficit into a 34-25 lead.
“Being out there with my guys means everything to me, especially on senior night when we’re being celebrated for all the stuff we’ve done here at East,” Patterson said. “Nobody understands more than the guys in the locker room how hard our team practices, and it’s just nice to put it on display.”
Lawson scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Olympians to a 25-24 advantage on the boards. East committed only five turnovers.
“We’ve been playing together for a really long time, so it kind of came more natural than us having to build back together,” Lawson said. “But we trust each other. We have good connection and everything, so it helped a lot.”
Judah Lewis and freshman Miles Broaddus each added 10 points for the Olympians.
“We have new guys playing every single game,” Patterson said. “We have guys with little-to-no varsity experience going out there and making plays, which is what makes our team so special. Miles Broaddus 100 percent came in and just does his job,” Patterson said. “He has two jobs — he has to hit shots and make plays for others, and he does both of them at a high level. As we keep getting those guys in the game, and we keep letting them learn how to play the game at a high level, they’re going to keep succeeding and it’s going to make us succeed.”
Jeremiah Davis and Nate Dixon each scored nine points, and Cash Millspaugh added seven to lead the Panthers (9-11, 2-4). Johnny Elkins, who had 22 points and 16 rebounds in Thursday’s win against Jeffersonville, led Jennings with nine rebounds Friday.
The Panthers were playing for the second consecutive night after Saturday’s game with Jeffersonville was moved to Thursday because of the Jennings girls playing in the regional Saturday. The Panthers, who beat the defending Class 4A state champion Red Devils 69-60, were playing for the sixth time in 12 days Friday.
“It was a great win (Thursday), and you hope we could come out and play a little better that we did, and unfortunately, we didn’t do that,” Jennings coach Travis Wrightsman said. “We struggled to score. Our problem at times this year has been struggling to put the ball in the basket on a consistent basis, and unfortunately, tonight was one of those nights. We had some silly turnovers that led to some easy buckets by Columbus East. You have to give them all the credit in the world. They came ready to play, and we didn’t.”
The Panthers will host Brownstown Central Tuesday. East has a quick turnaround with a Saturday game at New Palestine.
”We knew what we had at the beginning of the year, and you can’t predict the adversity that we’ve been through,” East coach Perry Nash said. “But because of our senior leadership, our guys never quit. It would be very easy for our practices to be done halfway and guys not giving effort. But that’s not what our seniors have allowed. We continue to get after it every single day.
“We want to be playing our best basketball coming down the stretch, and I think tonight, we saw a glimpse of that,” he added. “We still have a lot more to do. I don’t think we’re there yet, and we have a great test (Saturday) night.”
Columbus East 62, Jennings County 43
Jennings County;14;11;6;12;—;43
Columbus East;13;21;15;13;—;62
Jennings County (9-11, 2-4): Ethan Speer 1 0-0 3, Cash Millspaugh 3 0-0 7, Aaron Lewis 2 2-2 6, Jeremiah Davis 2 5-7 9, Omar Gonzalez 0 2-2 2, Hayden Low 1 0-0 3, Nate Dixon 3 1-2 9, Johnny Elkins 0 0-0 0, Luke Alexander 1 2-2 4. Totals: 13 12-15 43.
Columbus East (7-10, 2-3): Anthony Cowan 2 0-0 4, Graham Preizer 1 0-0 3, Judah Lewis 4 0-1 10, Keaton Lawson 4 3-4 12, Carson Gallion 0 0-0 0, Ben Ellegood 2 0-0 4, Logan Neal 1 1-1 3, Miles Broaddus 4 0-0 10, Carter Patterson 5 4-5 14, Josiah Kiel 0 0-0 0, Carson Siegelin 0 0-0 0, Ridge Koester 0 2-2 2. Totals: 23 10-13 62.
3-point goals: Jennings County 5 (Dixon 2, Speer, Millspaugh, Low). Columbus East 6 (Lewis 2, Broaddus 2, Preizer, Lawson).
