Columbus North’s Luke Harmon is fouled by Franklin’s Dylan Beverly in an IHSAA boys sectional basketball game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Talk about a wild finish.
Franklin had several opportunities to get the game-tying basket to send the game into overtime, but the defense stood its ground in the end as Columbus North survived in a 40-38 boys basketball win in the opening round of the North Sectional on Tuesday night.
With 1:03 left to play, the Grizzly Cubs had possession of the ball. They took a couple shots that were off the mark, but the offensive rebounds kept the possession in their favor. With 19.1 seconds left following a Franklin timeout, Luke Harmon tipped the inbounds pass to Tyler Blythe to give the Bull Dogs the ball.
The problem for the Grizzly Cubs was that they had 13.1 seconds to commit six fouls because they only had one foul prior in the second half. On the fourth inbounds pass, Franklin’s Grant Hunter stole the ball and created an opportunity for a jumper just inside the 3-point line. That shot and then a putback attempt by Dylan Beverly were off the mark, and North’s Cooper Horn rebounded threw the ball ahead to Tyler Blythe as the buzzer sounded to give them the win.
“We did a great job of playing with poise. There were moments in the game that we didn’t play very well, that first quarter was terrible,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “We kept saying to the guys, ‘Boys, we‘ve got this. Listen to our coaching,’ and they did. I’m really proud of my seniors tonight for the way they gutted out a game when they didn’t have their best stuff tonight.”
The Bull Dogs (15-8) shared the ball early with several players contributing in the scoring column to go ahead 9-5. Micah Davis was quiet for much of the first half for Franklin, but he made his presence felt towards the end. The Grizzly Cubs closed out the opener quarter with a 7-0 run that ended with a buzzer beater from Davis just inside the half-court line to put them ahead 12-9.
Beverly hit a 3-pointer from the right side of the arc during a 7-2 run by Franklin to put them ahead 19-11. Following a North timeout, they started settling down and getting into its offensive groove. Damon Edwards was open for a couple buckets in the paints, and Luke Harmon drained two 3-pointers to end the first half on a 10-0 run to give North a 21-19 at the break.
Momentum looked to be in the Bull Dogs favor to start the second half as they led 27-23. Hunter stalled the momentum with a 3-pointer for Franklin. Hunter also nailed a 3-pointer late in the quarter to make it only a 32-31 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.
Blythe said the defensive effort in Tuesday’s game was 98% executed, with the hiccup being the Wyatt Nickelson 3-pointer to start the game.
“We had as much pressure as we could on them,” Blythe said. “This week, we harped everything getting on the hot hand and getting on the close out. We knew they could hit some deep ones like they did tonight. We knew we had to win this game if we wanted to win sectional.”
Harmon led the Bull Dogs with 13 points, and Damon Edwards added 10. Davis led Franklin with a game-high 18 points.
North moves on to face Columbus East in the sectional semifinal with an approximate tip at 7:45 on Friday.
Columbus North 40, Franklin 38
Franklin;12;7;12;7;—;38
Columbus North;9;12;11;8;—;40
Franklin (10-14): Wyatt Nickelson 2 0-0 5, Grant Hunter 2 0-0 6, Nate Corley 0 0-0 0, Dylan Beverly 3 0-0 7, Micah Davis 8 1-1 18, Kolt Nelson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 1-1 38.
Columbus North (15-8): Luke Harmon 5 0-0 13, Tyler Blythe 2 0-0 5, Damon Edwards 5 0-0 10, Ty Ferguson 3 0-0 7, Cooper Horn 2 1-1 5, Caleb Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Drew Schiefer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 1-1 40.
3-point goals: Franklin 5 (Hunter 2,Nickelson, Beverly, Davis); Columbus North 5 (Harmon 3, Blythe, T. Ferguson).
