Columbus East’s Keaton Lawson, in white, leaps between Columbus North’s Caleb Ferguson, left, and Garrett Long to shoot a layup during an IHSAA sectional basketball game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, March 4, 2025. East defeated their rivals 64-41 to advance to the next round.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus East shocked Columbus North in the opening round game of the East boys basketball sectional Tuesday night.
The Olympians got off to a fast start early, and the Bull Dogs couldn’t catch up, with East winning the crosstown rivalry battle 64-41.
The Olympians move on to take on Franklin in the semifinal round at 7:45 p.m. Friday. East Central and Whiteland will play in the first semifinal at 6 p.m.
Tuesday’s game was a much different outcome than the 59-42 North victory in the regular season. The defense of East led the way, causing 23 North turnovers, including 10 in the first quarter.
“We locked down on defense, got stops, and it converted on opposite end,” East junior Keaton Lawson said.
The Olympians were hot from behind the arc last week in their victory against Greensburg. Tuesday, they attacked the rim most of the game. Lawson led the charge with game-highs of 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
“The last couple games, our shooters have been shooting well, so they had to help out on the shooters, so it opened up our drive to attack the rim,” Lawson said.
It was a very emotional win for Judah Lewis, who played for North for the first part of his freshman season until transferring in the middle of the season last year to East. He missed the regular season matchup in December having to sit out for a year due to his transfer. He finished Tuesday’s game with 14 points.
“I had to come out here and give it my all to help my team,” Lewis said. “Our team prepared very well for this week, and we just executed.”
The Olympians (14-9) started out hot, leading 15-6 after the first quarter. The Bull Dogs (19-4) came back with free throws and 3-pointers in the second quarter to help cut the deficit to 24-19 at the break.
East started the third quarter on a 17-4 run to lead 41-23. The Olympians sealed the win with a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter.
“Our preparation going into this game was huge. Coach (Perry) Nash got us prepared. There’s nothing more you can say to that than being prepared,” said Carter Patterson, who finished with 12 points for East. “We have surrounding players that benefit off me and Keaton so well. Our 3-point shooters opened the floor up for me and Keaton so well. Judah comes in and plays with us, it is just an astronomical change. He helps us so much. Everybody on our team contributes to the wins.”
Austin Perry led North with 12 points, and Nate Enneking added 10.
The Bull Dogs saw their 12-game winning streak snapped and finished the year 19-4, the most wins in a season in coach Paul Ferguson’s 10 years at the helm and most wins for the program since the 2013-14 season. It is a huge turnaround from a 6-16 record a year ago.
“It was a great season. I’m super proud of our guys,” Ferguson said. “Obviously, it’s very disappointing in the way it ended, but our seniors came a long way. They grew up in a year, and we certainly had a lot of fun. We’re sad that it’s over.”
The Olympians have their sights on Franklin, who they defeated 64-50 in the regular season. East hopes to have better luck the second time around after defeating the Bull Dogs in the sectional last year and losing to East Central in the semifinal.
“We just told our guys this — ‘Anytime you beat your rival, it’s great, however, it’s done. Don’t get on social media and hear how great you all did. We don’t need to be up all night and involving ourselves in that,’” Nash said. “Right now, Franklin doesn’t care that Columbus and Columbus played. They want the winner, and we’ve got to be ready.”
Columbus East 64, Columbus North 41
Columbus North;6;13;9;13;—;41
Columbus East;15;9;22;18;—;64
Columbus North (19-4): Eli Smith 0 1-2 1, Caleb Ferguson 1 2-2 5, Nate Enneking 2 6-8 10, Jack Whaley 0 2-2 2, Austin Perry 4 2-2 12, Zach Fedor 0 0-0 0, Braylon Thoman 1 0-0 3, Max Coomes 1 1-2 4, Nolan Pickup 0 0-0 0, Ben Ferguson 0 2-2 2, Garrett Long 1 0-0 2. Totals: 10 16-20 41.
Columbus East (14-9): Mason Reeves 3 0-0 7, Judah Lewis 5 2-2 14, Keaton Lawson 9 2-6 21, Danny Coriden 2 0-0 6, Ben Ellegood 0 0-0 0, Ethan Bumbalough 0 0-0 0, Anthony Cowan 0 0-0 0, Carter Patterson 5 1-2 12, Dallas Dykstra 0 0-0 0, Logan Neal 0 0-0 0, Alex Duncan 2 0-0 4, Grayson Watters 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 5-10 64.
3-point goals: Columbus North 5 (Perry 2, C. Ferguson, Thoman, Coomes). Columbus East 7 (Lewis 2, Coriden 2, Reeves, Lawson, Patterson).
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