Columbus East came into Wednesday’s regular-season finale hoping to play the role of spoiler against Floyd Central, which had a chance to share the Hoosier Hills Conference title.
The Highlanders, however, looked every bit the part of HHC frontrunners.
Floyd Central (13-5, 5-2) posted an 85-54 victory to finish in a tie with Jeffersonville and New Albany atop the conference standings. Jennings County can make it a four-way tie for the HHC title with a win Friday at Madison.
On Wednesday, the Olympians (1-17, 0-7) couldn’t stop Jake Heidbreder. The Air Force-bound guard went 14 of 18 from the field, including 7 of 10 from 3-point range, and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line to score a career-high 42 points.
“He’s a tough guy to guard,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “He’s a Division I basketball player, and you put the other size with them, and they have some other very talented young men. So it’s tough to go up and help on him because he’ll find the open man.”
The Olympians stayed in the game through the first quarter, despite 16 points from Heidbreder, and were within 22-16 with just over five minutes left in the first half when the Highlanders began to pull away. A three-point play by Wesley Celichowski and a 3-pointer and a basket by Heidbreder sparked a 10-0 run that made it 32-16. Floyd Central led 38-21 at the half.
Heidbreder, who had 23 points at halftime, poured in 14 more in the third quarter to allow the Highlanders to stretch the lead to 62-39.
Tyler Boyer finished with 13 points and four rebounds, and Daniel Murphy added 10 points and three rebounds to lead East. They were two of six Olympians playing in their final home game.
Floyd Central outrebounded East 31-16. The Olympians were only 4 of 9 from the free-throw line.
“I thought we competed,” Chitty said. “But I’m not happy because we’re still missing wide-open looks, and you have to hit those to compete. We missed too many free throws tonight. You have to hit those to compete. Those are things that our guys can do. They can do that. They can hit open shots, and they can hit free throws. We just have to do it, and we have to defend better.”
East played without junior starter Will Rieckers and sophomore reserve Julius Dailey. Chitty said the pair were a little banged up, but that they should be ready for next week’s Bloomington South Sectional. The Olympians drew a first-round bye and will play in the semifinals March 5 against the winner of Tuesday’s Columbus North-Bloomington North game.
