Friday marked 11 days since the Columbus East boys basketball team had played a game, and if the Olympians had any signs of rust, they never showed it.
Columbus East came out on fire with a lot of intensity and energy throughout the game and it led to a 81-57 rout of East Central.
The Olympians moved the ball around to start the game, which led to lot of open looks, which they knocked down.
“It was the best half of basketball that we played all year,” Columbus East coach Brent Chitty said. “I challenged them to play for 32 minutes. That’s the way we have to play in order for us to have a chance to win. I thought our kids had a lot of energy, and their execution was pretty good.”
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The Trojans (11-4) briefly had a 4-2 lead until a 3-pointer from Drew Johnson gave the Olympians (5-6) a 5-4 lead. East Central responded back with a bucket to reclaim the lead, but Columbus East retook the lead and never surrendered it again following a basket from Matt Frost to make it 7-6 with about 4:25 remaining in the first.
The Olympians extended the lead to 14-8 a couple minutes later following a Lakeevan Whedon 3-pointer. Carson Whitehead then hit consecutive 3s during a 6-2 run to make it 20-10. Frost then put the icing on the cake to end the first with a three-point play.
“We were driving in and getting our layups,” Frost said. “We moved the ball around a lot and weren’t being selfish with it. It was one of the things we focused on in practice the last few weeks — hitting the open man and knocking down our shots.”
East led 27-16 a couple minutes into the second quarter, then put away the game with a 8-0 run to lead 35-16. The Olympians led 41-19 at halftime and ended the Trojans’ chance at a comeback.
“We were focusing on playing as hard as we could. Any team we play can beat us any night, so we have to play our best each game,” Whitehead said. “We really moved the ball a lot, and our focus was on defense. We put in some new defensive stuff, and it’s worked for us.”
Whitehead led Columbus East with 21 points. Frost finished with 17, Whedon had 14 and Johnson added 12.
After defeating one potential sectional Friday, the Olympians face another potential sectional opponent today when they go on the road and battle Bloomington North.
“I’m pleased with the energy and pleased with the effort,” Chitty said. “Now there’s no rest for the weary. Now we got to go on the road and face a very tough Bloomington North team.”
