The Columbus North-Columbus East boys and girls basketball games are an annual pre-holiday tradition, a Christmas gift to the community of Columbus.
But after both games had to be postponed while the East and North boys and North girls were in quarantine, the teams went through part of Christmas break not knowing whether they would be able to play each other this season.
Fortunately for the boys teams, their game was able to be rescheduled. The Olympians had their game with Martinsville that was scheduled for Tuesday postponed because Morgan County is in the Red on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. The Bull Dogs had opening and jumped at the chance to play their rivals.
“It was great,” North senior Blake Barker said. “I’m glad we could get the game rescheduled. It was a lot of fun to be out there against some kids I’d grown up with and known for awhile. I was just really happy that they rescheduled it, even with all the different things with COVID.”
Barker scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the Bull Dogs (6-2) to a 58-49 victory against the Olympians, who have played much better than their 1-6 record would indicate.
“Playing North is always great,” East senior Tyler Boyer said. “These kids, I’ve grown up playing basketball with since second grade all the way through, and they’re some of my best friends since I was young. It’s always nice to catch up and see how they’re doing.”
North senior point guard Reese Harmon, who added 18 points and eight rebounds, echoed those sentiments.
“I wasn’t worried, but I would have been kind of disappointed if we didn’t get to,” Harmon said. “But I was excited we did get to play them. It’s fun to play some buddies that you’ve known for years and years that you’ve grown up with.”
The Bull Dogs were playing only their third game in the past month.
“About Dec. 5, right after we played Martinsville, and then our season got shut down that Monday, and we were told we were quarantining for two weeks and missing four games, I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go,'” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “But I was thankful for our BCSC administration and the athletic directors to figure out a way to play this game. The kids certainly wanted to play it, and for the seniors of both teams, they grow up looking forward to this game and we were glad that we got to play it.”
While the East-North girls game has yet to be rescheduled, those teams could meet in the East Central Sectional. The East and North boys could meet again in the Bloomington South Sectional.
But with those meetings not guaranteed, Tuesday’s battle was a blessing.
“I think it’s great for the kids,” Chitty said. “You could just tell on the floor tonight, they have a lot of good friendships, and they had that opportunity to compete against each other. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t do the crowd thing, but that’s for everybody’s safety. But I’m glad we got to play it.”
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at tschultz@therepublic.com or 812-389-5628.
