Points At A Premium: Bull Dogs top Olympians in low-scoring affair

Columbus North’s Ty Ferguson grabs a rebound away from Columbus East’s Anthony Lloyd during a game in the Orange Pit at Columbus East High School. Tommy Walker (For The Republic)

Columbus North senior Sam King was in foul trouble for most of the Friday night’s boys basketball game, but when he was on the court, he made his presence felt.

King scored a game-high 12 points, and the Bull Dogs went on to defeat crosstown rival Columbus East 39-26.

“Sam’s a big key player for us. I thought he handled that situation really well. He took some tough calls, but then came out and finished the game strong for us,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “We’ve been practicing our small lineup all week, and we just adjusted to it. It took a little bit to get our legs under us, but we ran that side out of bounds play to Cooper (Horn to end the third quarter) and he hit the shot, and that is what good players do. You knock them down.”

The Olympians (1-6) were able to fend off the Bull Dogs’ full-court pressure early on, but the trouble was, they couldn’t convert baskets at the offense end. Sam King and Horn helped North (5-2) jump out to a 10-0 lead and, the Bull Dogs led 12-3 after the first quarter.

Rhett Harmon provided a spark off the bench by draining two 3-pointers early in the second quarter to extend the lead to 18-6. When it looked like the game was starting to get away from East, it came right back with consecutive baskets to cut the North lead to 18-10.

Late in the first half, King was called for his third foul and had to go to the bench the rest of the half. But unfortunately for the Olympians, they couldn’t take advantage offensively and trailed 25-13 at the half.

“I felt myself that in the second quarter, whether it is me knocking down shots or finding my open teammates, I feel like it’s my job as a teammate to get my guys going,” Harmon said.

With 6:52 left in the third quarter, King was charged with his fourth foul. Once King had to be substituted out of the game, the energy wasn’t there for Bull Dogs for the rest of the third quarter. The East defense allowed only two points until Horn drained a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 31-18 heading into the fourth. The Olympians didn’t have enough firepower offensively to make a comeback.

“We‘ve got to be more aggressive. I don’t think we were aggressive offensively,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “I think defensively, when you hold anyone to 39 points, especially with their firepower, you’re playing defense. We‘ve still got things to work on… We’re competing. We’re not backing down.”

East was led by Will Rieckers with 10 points, with Julius Dailey adding seven.

Along with King’s game-high of 12 points for North, Horn finished with 10 points and a game-high five rebounds and Harmon added nine points.

Columbus North 39, Columbus East 26

Columbus North;12;13;6;8;—;39

Columbus East;3;10;5;8;—;26

Columbus North (5-2): Luke Harmon 0 0-0 0, Tyler Blythe 1 0-0 2, Damon Edwards 0 0-0 0, Carson Dibble 2 0-0 4, Ty Ferguson 1 0-1 2, Cooper Horn 4 0-0 10, Sam King 4 2-2 12, Rhett Harmon 3 0-0 9. Totals: 15 2-4 39.

Columbus East (1-6): J.T. Kuhlman 0 0-0 0, Zane Moravec 1 0-0 3, Ben Sylva 2 0-0 4, Will Rieckers 3 2-3 10, Julius Dailey 3 1-1 7, Pete Coriden 1 0-0 2, Anthony Lloyd 0 0-2 0. Totals: 10 3-6 26.

3-point goals: Columbus North 7 (R. Harmon 3, Horn 2, King 2); Columbus East 3 (Rieckers 2, Moravec).