Basketball Game Preview: Columbus East Olympians vs. Mooresville Pioneers

The Columbus East Olympians will head out to square off against the Mooresville Pioneers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Columbus East is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 65.5 points per game this season.

While Columbus East didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-17), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They walked away with a 71-60 win over Greenwood on Saturday. Given the Olympians' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Woodmen are ranked 107th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Columbus East to victory, but perhaps none more so than Mason Reeves, who went 6 of 8 on his way to 22 points and four steals. Those 22 points gave Reeves a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Carter Patterson, who went 10 of 19 on his way to 25 points along with five boards and three steals.

Meanwhile, after a string of six wins, Mooresville's good fortune finally ran out on Saturday. They fell 41-31 to Lebanon. The match marked the Pioneers' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Columbus East will need focus on slowing down Aj Defur, one of several Mooresville players who made an impact when they last played. He posted 13 points and seven rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Bradley Robbins Jr, who had seven points.

Mooresville's defeat dropped their record down to 6-4. As for Columbus East, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 7-1.

Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Columbus East hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 65.5 points per game. However, it's not like Mooresville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 57 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.

Columbus East came up short against Mooresville when the teams last played back in January, falling 67-61. Can Columbus East avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.