Keaton Lawson
For three of the four quarters Friday night, Columbus East had things going its way against Center Grove.
But a bad third quarter haunted the Olympians in what turned out to be a 49-45 defeat.
“They put that press on us, and we didn’t handle that press as well as we had hoped,” East coach Perry Nash said. “We had some formation issues that we’re going to have to work out and make sure we’ve got guys in the right spots. Center Grove plays extremely hard and is well coached. I thought they did a phenomenal job of exposing some of our formations where we just didn’t have guys in the right spot.”
The Olympians (7-12) led by as many as 10 early in the second quarter and were 24-18 until the Trojans (8-11) made two of three free throws with 1.9 seconds left in the first half to cut the lead to 24-20. Center Grove then held East to three points through the first 7:58 of the third quarter and took a 36-29 lead.
The Olympians cut the lead to four three times in the fourth quarter, but each time, the Trojans answered.
Keaton Lawson led East with 14 points and five rebounds, while Ben Ellegood added 11 points and five rebounds. Graham Preizer and Carter Patterson each scored seven points.
The Olympians outrebounded Center Grove 21-20, but turned it over 14 times. East played without starting guard Judah Lewis, who sustained a concussion in last week’s loss at New Palestine.
“I thought our defense was really good in the half-court,” Nash said. “When we turn the ball over against the press, it’s hard to play defense in those situations. If we don’t have those live-ball turnovers, I think our defense is even better. But the problem is, when you have live-ball turnovers, you can’t set your defense and I thought that hurt us tonight.
“You have to be able to handle that pressure, and I think we can,” he added. “We just have to get better at it. We hadn’t seen it for awhile, so now we have something to look it and go back to the drawing board.”
Center Grove 49, Columbus East 45
Center Grove;6;14;16;13;—;49
Columbus East;14;10;5;16;—;45
Center Grove (8-11): Klinton South 6 0-0 12, Alec Heichelbech 3 0-0 6, Rhys Oliver 0 2-3 2, Brayden Stark 0 2-2 2, Aaron Grant 0 2-2 2, Grayson Alvey 1 0-0 2, Gabe Baxter 1 0-0 2, Zavier Laney 3 2-2 8, Braden Goodpaster 5 5-7 15. Totals: 19 11-14 49.
Columbus East (7-12): Anthony Cowan 1 0-0 3, Graham Preizer 2 3-3 7, Keaton Lawson 6 2-2 14, Ben Ellegood 5 0-0 11, Logan Neal 0 0-0 0, Miles Broaddus 1 0-0 3, Carter Patterson 3 1-2 7. Totals: 18 6-7 45.
3-point goals: Center Grove 0. Columbus East 3 (Cowan, Ellegood, Broaddus).
