Columbus East’s Julius Dailey battles Silver Creek’s Bryce Henderson for a rebound during a game in the Orange Pit at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
As the basketball season goes along, most teams typically start hitting a better percentage of their shots.
Columbus East certainly is hoping that is the case after a cold-shooting night in Wednesday’s season opener. The Olympians hit only 22 percent (6 of 27) from 3-point range and 36 percent (18 of 50) overall from the field in a 65-57 loss to Silver Creek.
“We did not shoot the ball well tonight,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “We had wide-open looks, and that’s something the first thing we have to do better. We have to hit those wide-open looks. No. 2, the first half defensively, we were a little late in rotating. The second half, I thought we did a better job defensively blocking out and rebounding, so we have to do that for four quarters.”
The Olympians made a late charge to make things interesting. Trailing 51-36 late in the third quarter, they went on a 17-6 run to cut the lead to 57-53 with 2:41 remaining.
East had a couple of chances to get a little closer, but the shots wouldn’t fall.
“I thought we had our chances tonight, and we didn’t take advantage of them,” Chitty said. “We just need to hit some shots. I believe these guys are good shooters. We knock those down, that changes everything.”
Two areas where the Olympians excelled Wednesday were free-throw shooting and ball-handling. They were 15 of 16 at the line and committed only six turnovers.
Ben Sylva led East with 25 points. Julius Dailey had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Jackson Fischvogt added nine points on three 3-pointers in his first varsity start.
Kaden Oliver led the Dragons with 23 points.
The Olympians now turn their attention to a Saturday afternoon contest at Noblesville.
“It’s early,” Chitty said. “We just have a lot of work to do.”
Silver Creek 65, Columbus East 57
Silver Creek;18;20;15;12;—;65
Columbus East;13;14;14;16;—;57
Silver Creek (1-0): Hayden Garten 1 2-2 5, Kaden Oliver 7 8-15 23, Kasen Daeger 3 3-4 11, Bryce Henderson 0 2-5 2, Walker Hoffman 1 4-4 6, Cameron Wheeler 4 1-2 9, Nate Davidson 3 1-1 9, EJ Milliner 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 21-33 65.
Columbus East (0-1): Mason Reeves 0 0-0 0, Zane Moravec 1 2-2 4, Jackson Fischvogt 3 0-0 9, Henry Sims 0 2-2 2, Ben Sylva 8 6-6 25, Keaton Lawson 1 0-0 2, Danny Coriden 0 0-0 0, Jake Gilbert 0 0-0 0, Julius Dailey 4 4-4 12, Pete Coriden 1 1-2 3. Totals: 18 15-16 57.
3-point goals: Silver Creek 6 (Daeger 2, Davidson 2, Garten, Oliver); Columbus East 6 (Fischvogt 3, Sylva 3).
