Columbus East’s Jackson Fischvogt drives against Greensburg at Columbus East, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.
The Republic file photo
Perry Nash hadn’t had much of a chance to see his Columbus East boys basketball team before it started playing games in June.
The new Olympians coach didn’t come aboard until April to replace Brent Chitty, who resigned after 13 seasons at East.
“We were able to do some workouts in May,” Nash said. “But we had guys playing baseball, we had guys playing volleyball, we had guys playing golf and track. We really didn’t quite see our whole group at that point in time. June was probably the first time we got them all together at the same time. We had only had about three practices before we started playing games”
Nash, who has been a head coach at Jac-Cen-Del and Triton Central, spent the past four years as an assistant at Franklin Central. He led the Olympians through about 25 games during the month of June, when coaches are permitted to work with their players in practice and game settings.
“We really just had the skeleton of our offense and defense and terminologies,” Nash said. “I really think we were playing better at the end than we were at the beginning. By the time we got done, the kids were really starting to understand what we were trying to do offensively and defensively. To see us grow in the month of June was really exciting. By the end of the summer, we were able to go deeper into our offensive and defensive philosophies. Our guys had great buy-in all summer long, and that was really good to see.”
East played in shootouts at Whiteland, Marian University and Lawrenceburg and concluded the summer season at the Charlie Hughes Shootout in Carmel. The Olympians also went to a team camp at Indiana Wesleyan.
“At team camp, we played really close with a good Columbia City team,” Nash said. “At the Charlie Hughes Shootout, we competed with a really good South Bend Adams team. Those were probably our best two games that we played all summer.
“The end of our schedule, we played a lot harder teams,” he added. “I think it was a situation where if we’d have played some of those earlier teams at the end of the season, our winning percentage would have been a lot better. We were playing the best we played all summer at the end.”
East lost four starters to graduation. Incoming senior Jack Fischvogt, incoming juniors Mason Reeves and Ethan Bumbalough and incoming sophomore Keaton Lawson all saw significant action last season and were among the five regular starters this summer, along with incoming sophomore Carter Patterson.
“They were consistent contributors this summer for us,” Nash said.
Primarily JV players from last season who played with the varsity this summer included incoming seniors Elum Van Est and Kadin Lobdell and incoming juniors Danny Coriden and Alex Duncan. Incoming juniors Jared Brooks and Zach Foster also played some varsity. Foster was injured last season and served as a team manager.
“We were really trying to give kids the opportunity to compete for positions and be able to get the best kids out there on the floor for us,” Nash said. “It’s one of those things where the kids are getting to know what my expectations are. We still have a long offseason to go, but hopefully when we get a little bit better at our skills, we’ll have a rolling start going into the season.”
