In the week leading up to Tuesday night’s sectional opener against Shelbyville, Dave Horn was telling Columbus North coach Paul Ferguson about how the Bull Dogs upset a highly favored Shelbyville team in the 1957 sectional final.
So Ferguson summoned Horn, who scored 24 points in that 48-46 Columbus win, to speak to his team prior to Tuesday’s game.
The talk turned out to be a huge benefit.
The Bull Dogs led all but the game’s first 50 seconds in posting an 81-69 first-round win and advancing to Friday’s Columbus East Sectional semifinal matchup against the host Olympians.
“It was eerily similar to the situation here, with how good Shelbyville is offensively and having to control the pace of the game,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “(Horn) was telling me about that game, and I was like, ‘This is the same matchup now,’ so we had him come in and spoke to our team before the game about that win, and I think he really inspired our guys. We had to dig into our past to get that win tonight.”
The victory avenges a 64-47 loss at Shelbyville on Dec. 1. The Golden Bears led by as many as 30 early in the fourth quarter of that game.
But in that earlier matchup, the Bull Dogs played without injured starters Trey Vincent and Trenton Kelley. This time, they were in the lineup.
“When we played Shelbyville early in the season, Trey and Trenton Kelley were both still hurt, so that hurt us a lot,” senior Jaylen Flemmons said. “That’s when we played zone, and we knew we could come out and man this team and do it pretty well against them. We knew we were really quick on-ball defenders, and we were trying to protect the 3-point line and just move with our feet.”
North did exactly that. The Golden Bears shot 59.1 percent (26 of 44 from the field), including 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range, in the regular-season matchup. When they played at East in January, they shot 63.3 percent (31 of 49) from the field, including 59.1 percent (13 of 22) from 3-point range, in a 79-59 win.
This time, Shelbyville shot only 38.5 percent (25 of 65) from the field, including a mere 7.1 percent (2 of 28) from 3-point range.
“I think our defense was a whole lot better,” freshman Blake Barker said. “We moved the ball well. We shot the ball well this time. It was at a neutral court, which helped, and our coaches had us really prepared for this game.”
Ferguson credited assistant coaches Lance Barker, Mike Harmon, Scott Wilson, Nate Frasier and Nathan VanDeventer with preparing a flawless scouting report.
“We had a tremendous scout from our assistant coaches,” Ferguson said. “They worked their tails off on that, and our team was prepared and ready. Then, our guys went out and executed that scouting report. Our defense was phenomenal, and we did exactly what we wanted to do offensively against them.”
After the Golden Bears scored the game’s first two points, Blake Barker hit a 3-pointer to spark a 9-0 run that put the Bull Dogs (14-10) in control. Blake Barker hit two more 3s in the quarter, which ended with a 19-14 North lead.
The Bull Dogs still led 29-23 at halftime and 32-28 early in the third quarter when another Blake Barker 3 sparked a 14-4 run that extended the margin to 46-32 with 3:18 left in the third quarter. North led 52-40 going into the final period.
Shelbyville (16-9) got as close as 66-58 with 2:32 left in the game. But then freshman Reese Harmon went 8 of 8 from the free-throw line in the final 2 1/2 minutes to help the Bull Dogs hold on.
Reese Harmon and Matt Boldrey entered the game as part of an offense-defense platoon after point guards Vincent and Lakeevan Whedon both fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. Harmon, who hadn’t even been dressing varsity the past few games, was seeing his first varsity action since Jan. 6.
“That kid has ice in his veins,” Ferguson said. “To come in off the bench, fourth quarter, sectional game and knock down 8 of 8 from the free-throw line was unbelievable. That kid is going to be a great player.”
Overall, North went to the free-throw line 32 times in the fourth quarter and 40 times in the second half. The Bull Dogs finished 33 of 47 from the line.
Barker led North with 19 points, while Flemmons added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Kelley finished with 11 points, and Bailey Hester added nine.
