Cooper Horn
Cooper Horn led a charge back from a double-digit deficit Friday night, but his Columbus North team fell a little short at the end.
In the midst of that comeback, however, Horn eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He finished with a game-high 28 points in the Bull Dogs’ 51-44 loss to Southport.
“I knew I was close (to 1,000) coming in, but I didn’t know exactly where I was,” Horn said. “I was just trying to attack to the rim and get to the basket and do whatever my team needed. My outside shot wasn’t falling throughout the game, so I tried to get to the rack and get to the free-throw line. My teammates got me in the ball in the right places to score. They trusted me, and I tried my hardest to pull us to victory.”
The Cardinals (12-5, 4-0), who clinched at least a tie for the Conference Indiana title, jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and led 24-10 late in the first half. North (11-6, 1-2) cut the lead to 24-14 at halftime, but Southport built it back up to 38-24 after three quarters.
The Bull Dogs still trailed 43-29 with 2:45 remaining when they got a pair of 3-pointers from Ty Ferguson sandwiched around a Southport 3. Horn then scored nine straight points for North in a 9-2 run that cut the lead to 47-41 with 39 seconds left.
The Bull Dogs got the ball back, but missed a 3-pointer that would have cut it to three, and the Cardinals made four consecutive free throws in the final 20 seconds to put it away.
“I loved how my team hung in there, battled all the way to the end and made a great run at the end,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “I was super proud of my guys.”
AJ Dancler scored 17 points, and Nickens Lemba added 16 to lead Southport.
“Our start killed us,” Paul Ferguson said. “The thing is, in that start, we had three good looks, and unfortunately, they just didn’t go down, and they’re a hard team to get behind on. They’re so athletic. They’re really well coached defensively. Their length and athleticism made it really hard for us to finish at the rim. There were a number of times we got the ball to the rim, but just didn’t finish against their size and athleticism.”
Ty Ferguson added eight points and led the Bull Dogs with seven rebounds.
Horn scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half.
“Cooper played phenomenal,” Ferguson said. “He was the best player on the floor. At times, he was unguardable. I was just so impressed with the way he played tonight.”
Southport 51, Columbus North 44
Southport;16;8;14;13;—;51
Columbus North;5;9;10;20;—;44
Southport (12-5, 4-0): AJ Dancler 5 5-5 17, Jayden Pinkston 3 0-0 6, Jye Rudolph 0 0-0 0, Jeff Pinkston 1 2-2 4, Shane Handlon 3 0-0 6, Kevon Miller 1 0-0 2, Jack Turner 0 0-0 0, Nickens Lemba 8 0-0 16. Totals: 21 7-7 51.
Columbus North (11-6, 1-2): Luke Harmon 2 0-0 6, Damon Edwards 1 0-0 2, Ty Ferguson 3 0-0 8, Cooper Horn 9 10-12 28, Philip McKinley 0 0-0 0, Caleb Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Drew Schiefer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 10-12 44.
3-point goals: Southport 2 (Dancler 2); Columbus North 4 (Harmon 2, T. Ferguson 2).
