Caleb Ferguson
Southport controlled the first four minutes of Friday night’s Conference Indiana boys basketball contest, but by the fourth quarter, Columbus North had the Cardinals in a fit of frustration.
The Bull Dogs withstood Southport’s early run, took complete control in the third quarter and took advantage of three Cardinal technical fouls in the final period to pull away for a 75-50 victory.
“Shots weren’t falling at the start, and if we’re going to become a good team, we have to overcome that,” said North junior Caleb Ferguson, who scored a game-high 23 points. “We did a great job of doing that, and we continued to get stops on defense. It started on the defensive end. We had a cold shooting night, so that was big for us.”
Southport (8-7, 2-2) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead before the Bull Dogs (11-3, 2-1) got going. They cut the deficit to 17-14 at the end of the first quarter and took their first lead on a 3-pointer by Ben Ferguson midway through the second. After a Cardinal free throw, Austin Perry and Caleb Ferguson hit back-to-back 3s, and North eventually went to halftime with a 31-26 advantage.
“The key thing was handling their pressure,” Paul Ferguson said. “We only turned the ball over three times in the first half, and two of them were early. Once we adjusted a little bit to their speed and athleticism, we made plays. We rebounded the ball well, we hit shots and our guys played well.”
After Southport scored the first five points of the second half, the Bull Dogs went on a 13-0 run to take control. Senior Max Coomes hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the spurt.
“All the confidence we have in our teammates and the want to play together and the want to get stops and to shoot better, our cooperation together is amazing,” Coomes said.
“They came out hot, and good teams do that,” Caleb Ferguson added. “This dude right here, Max Coomes, he has the confidence to come out and hit two huge 3s after not having a great shooting first half, and that was huge for us.”
Coomes finished with 11 points for North. Perry scored nine points, Nate Enneking and Brennan Hester each added eight points and Garrett Long added six points and nine rebounds.
“We knew they were going to pressure us hard, and we knew we had to take care of the ball,” Paul Ferguson said. “We knew we had to fight on the glass for rebounds, and our guys did that tonight and came away with a big win. Obviously, Southport is a really talented team, and our guys had a great night of basketball.”
Columbus North 75, Southport 50
Southport;17;9;10;14;—;50
Columbus North;14;17;22;22;—;75
Southport (8-7, 2-2): Malik Sims 2 0-0 5, Ty’reese Burnett 4 0-1 8, Cristian Webster 2 1-2 6, Malachi Bravard 1 0-0 3, Chanan Glenn 2 1-2 7, Donovan Brewer 0 0-0 0 Jack Turner 2 2-3 6, James Kalala 4 7-10 15. Totals: 17 11-18 50.
Columbus North (11-3, 2-1): Eli Smith 0 0-0 0, Mason Acton 0 1-2 1, Caleb Ferguson 7 7-8 23, Nate Enneking 4 0-1 8, Austin Perry 3 1-2 9, Zach Fedor 0 0-0 0, Braylon Thoman 0 1-2 1, Max Coomes 4 0-0 11, Nolan Pickup 0 1-2 1, Ben Ferguson 2 0-0 5, Brennan Hester 1 5-6 8, Ben Kriesant 1 0-0 2, Garrett Long 3 0-0 6. Totals: 26 16-24 75.
3-point goals: Southport 5 (Glenn 2, Sims, Webster, Bravard). Columbus North 9 (Coomes 3, C. Ferguson 2, Perry 2, B. Ferguson, Hester).
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