STORY COLIN KUNZ | PHOTOGRAPHY NISSO SACHA

East senior varsity basketball players Kobe Peck and Charlie Kenrich stepped up on senior night to defeat Hamilton with a final score of 58-47. Peck led the team in points with 20 and Kenrich led the team in rebounds with 10.

“We really just wanted to go out there, play hard, have fun and get a win one last time in the Hawks Nest,” Peck told Spark when asked about his mentality for the game. “I feel like I was a leader, contributed in points, and just played hard.”

An anticipated matchup of the night was Kenrich playing against the Great Miami Conference’s (GMC) leading rebounder Sage Tolentino. Going into the game, Kenrich was averaging 7.2 rebounds per game while Tolentino was averaging 7.3. Kenrich knew it would be tough, citing Tolentino’s height as one of the major factors.

“Yeah I knew it would be tough, you know he’s 7 feet tall,” Kenrich told Spark.

His height has helped Tolentino become one of the best rebounders in the conference. Despite the hype surrounding his competitor, Kenrich was able to keep him locked up, only allowing Tolentino to record two rebounds on the night, while Kenrich was able to record six.

Kenrich credited his team for his success.

“I think my teammates just found me in the right spot and I was just playing hard and going to the hoop,” says Kenrich.

Behind their seniors, East played dominantly throughout the game, starting early. After Hamilton won the tip to start the game, East quickly recovered with a steal and score by Kenrich. On the following possession, East was able to get a defensive stop and senior Jacob Terry was able to  go down to score  three points. Soon after, Peck got a steal and ran down the court for an easy bucket to force a Hamilton timeout and a 7-0 lead.

East went into halftime with a 28-22 lead. In the second half, the team saw standout performances off the bench from junior Jack Kronauge, sophomore Tyler Bachman and senior Daniel Mulumba who helped the team on both sides of the court. Senior Kyle Poppe also saw the court despite being injured with a partial tear in his quad.

Senior captain Nate Adkins says that the team’s chemistry is something that really stands out to him.

“Playing with these guys for so long built up our chemistry,” Nate says. “It’s kind of hard to make, it’s really rare and it’s just really fun playing with these guys.”

East continued to play strong through the end and were able to finish out the game 58-47 and make it into the postseason with a 17-4 record.

According to East varsity basketball head coach Clinton Adkins, this was a tough game for him since he has known and coached the seniors for so long.

“I’ve known most of these guys since they were in second grade,” Adkins says. “At this point some of them are like my kids. It’s hard, this is a hard night.”