Caleb Ferguson
The last time Columbus North played at home in 2024, the largest crowd in several years nearly packed Memorial Gym to see the Bull Dogs defeat crosstown rival Columbus East.
So when a much smaller crowd was on hand for Saturday’s Conference Indiana boys basketball opener against Terre Haute South, North knew it couldn’t rely on the crowd for energy. The Bull Dogs brought it themselves in a 57-47 victory.
“Obviously, this isn’t the biggest crowd we’ve had, not like the North-East game at all,” junior point guard Caleb Ferguson said. “That’s easy to have energy in that game, but we talked about bringing energy in this game, and I thought we did a great job of that and it started defensively.”
Trailing 5-4 with three minutes left in the first quarter, North (7-2, 1-0) went on a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. The Braves (5-6, 0-1) battled back to within 24-23 in the closing seconds of the first half, but a 3-pointer by Caleb Ferguson pushed the lead to four at the break.
“We made some big shots,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “In the second quarter, we missed some really good open looks against the zone, but we just told the guys at halftime, ‘Stay confident. You’re coming off Christmas Break. Not a lot of you guys have had a ton of reps in the gym like you normally would, and (shots) are going to go down in the second half,’ and they did.”
Terre Haute South was still within eight with seven minutes left in the game when a 3-pointer by Max Coomes and a three-point play and a 3-pointer from Caleb Ferguson gave the Bull Dogs a 51-34 cushion.
“It was a great pass-fake from Caleb to feed the corner, and Max buried that shot and that was kind of the shot that broke it open for us,” Paul Ferguson said.
“We were having some good looks in the first half, and shots weren’t falling like they usually do,” Caleb Ferguson added. “But we kept moving the ball, kept staying confident and that was a big key to our victory.”
Caleb Ferguson finished with game-highs of 19 points and eight rebounds. Coomes scored 11 points, and Austin Perry added eight.
Coomes and Caleb Ferguson each hit three 3-pointers.
“We started off a little slow, but then we picked up and started getting into our game,” Coomes said. “When they went zone, we noticed that we had to adjust, and that adjustment is putting me out on the 3-point line, and I’m just doing my job and doing what I can to get the team a ‘W.’ It just always feels great getting a conference win and starting off the conference 1-0.”
North outrebounded the Braves 29-26. Nate Enneking grabbed five rebounds for the Bull Dogs, while Braylon Thoman and Garrett Long each had four.
“If there’s one thing Terre Haute South does well, they’re an excellent rebounding team,” Paul Ferguson said. “They have some big, long athletes. Our guys battled in there. A lot of our guards pitched in for some key rebounds. We knew our bigs were going to have to get bodies on their bigs, and our guards were going to have to clean up the glass like they did.”
Columbus North 57, Terre Haute South 47
TH South;5;18;9;15;—;47
Columbus North;13;14;13;17;—;57
Terre Haute South (5-6, 0-1): Treva Branch Lewis 4 2-4 10, Brady Wilson 1 0-0 2, Peyton Turner 3 2-2 10, Tre Lewis 3 1-2 7, Josh Morgan 4 2-3 10, Jaylen Wells 3 0-0 6, Chris Herrin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 7-11 47.
Columbus North (7-2, 1-0): Eli Smith 1 0-0 2, Mason Acton 0 0-0 0, Caleb Ferguson 7 2-3 19, Nate Enneking 2 0-0 4, Jack Whaley 0 0-0 0, Austin Perry 3 1-2 8, Zach Fedor 0 0-0 0, Braylon Thomas 0 2-2 2, Max Coomes 4 0-0 11, Nolan Pickup 4 0-0 11, Ben Ferguson 2 0-0 5, Brennan Hester 0 0-0 0, Garrett Long 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 5-7 57.
3-point goals: Terre Haute South 2 (Turner 2). Columbus North 8 (C. Ferguson 3, Coomes 3, Perry, B. Ferguson).
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