NOBLESVILLE— Columbus North passed the ball well against Indianapolis Lighthouse Charter East to earn seventh place in the Noblesville Holiday Tournament on Thursday.
The Bull Dogs had 35 assists on 43 made baskets in the 113-56 victory with eleven players scoring for North. The Bull Dogs (5-5) are back to a .500 record on the season.
“It was a good bounce-back game for us,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “After playing Pike and Chesterton (Wednesday), two really good teams, it was nice to have a game where everyone got a chance to play.”
Senior guard Bailey Hester led the Bull Dogs with a career-high 26 points. He sank eight of 13 shots, including 6 of seven 3-pointers. Hester said he got a lot of open looks from the team.
“There was a lot of cutting, motion and screening so that provides me the opportunity to get the ball in an open spot to take a shot and I was knocking them down,” Hester said. “We didn’t have an selfish play (Thursday). We were just looking to get a guy an open shot.”
North junior guard Lakeevan Whedon scored 17 points coming off the bench, hitting five of six shots and six of seven free throws. The second unit played the second and fourth quarters. Senior guard Matt Boldrey came off the bench to hit all six shots for 12 points.
“Matt played well against Chesterton and that continued (Thursday), he’s giving us a nice lift off the bench,” Ferguson said. “We told our guys we knew it was going to be a game where everyone gets to play a lot and we wanted them to focus on making the extra pass and playing together as team,”
Senior guard Trey Vincent had nine assists and four steals for the Bull Dogs. North hit 43 of 60 shots, including 10 of 12 from 3-point range.
Defense played a major role in the win with North forcing 28 Pythons turnovers, which was double the 14 committed turnovers by the Bull Dogs. Sophomore forward William Blount led Lighthouse East (2-13) with 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting. The Pythons were 22 of 49 from the field.
“One of the reasons I like this tournament is there are a lot of good teams up here and it’s tough,” Ferguson said. “Even though being 1-2 in the tournament isn’t what we hoped for, if we can learn and grow, it’ helps us the second half of the season.”
Ferguson gave the team off until Monday and are back in action Jan. 5 at Terre Haute North.
