Ready For Rematch: Bull Dogs, Olympians to square off in sectional semifinals

When Columbus North and Columbus East met on the hardwood earlier this season, the Bull Dogs claimed one of the most lopsided wins in the series’ history.

But Bull Dogs coach Paul Ferguson isn’t expecting anything like his team’s 68-28 victory that they posted on Dec. 16 when the teams meet again at around 7:45 p.m. today in the North Sectional semifinals. He is figuring on a much closer rematch.

“East has played much better basketball lately and has continued to improve in small ways as a team,” Ferguson said. “It’s a rivalry game. Those kids are going to be ready to play, and our kids are going to be ready to play.”

North (15-8) and East (2-19) will meet in the second semifinal at around 7:45 p.m. The Bull Dogs advanced with a 40-38 first-round win against Franklin on Tuesday.

“Obviously, it wasn’t one of our best offensive nights, but we hit big shots in key moments,” Ferguson said. “Luke Harmon hit a couple of big 3s. Tyler Blythe hit a big 3. We settled down after the first quarter and played better offensively.”

Harmon (13 points) and fellow senior Damon Edwards (10 points) stepped up as the Grizzly Cubs were limiting North’s leading scorer, Cooper Horn, to five.

“That’s been something we’ve done all year,” Ferguson said. “We’ve had other guys step up. We had to grind out a win, and we got it done.”

Horn leads the Bull Dogs with 17.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. Ty Ferguson averages 9.0 points and 3.6 assists, while Harmon adds 8.9 points and Tyler Blythe chips in 7.2 points.

“I think Cooper is a very good basketball player, and what makes him really good is that he can score a lot of points, but he also is really unselfish, and he knows how to get other people involved,” East coach Brent Chitty said. “That’s why they’re a very good team.”

The Olympians are led by senior Ben Sylva’s 17.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals. Julius Dailey adds 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds.

“The first thing is, we better execute, because they’re very well coached, and if you don’t execute, they take advantage of you and they can do it quickly,” Chitty said. “So we have to execute. We have to do all the little things that I don’t think we did in the first game, and then have some confidence in our ability to just play the game.”

Columbus North’s Drew Schiefer, left, attempts to block the shot of Columbus East’s Julius Dailey during the annual rivalry boys basketball game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Dec. 16, 2022.

The Republic file photo

East’s loss to North came early in the Olympians’ 15-game losing streak. East snapped that skid with a 51-49 win against Madison on Feb. 17 before falling to Floyd Central 66-56 to close the regular season.

The Olympians received a first-round bye in the sectional.

“I do think we’ve gotten better, but that’s all relative, because I think (North has) gotten better, as well,” Chitty said.

The winners of tonight’s games will play for the sectional title at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Whiteland (9-14) and Shelbyville (10-13) will meet in today’s first semifinal at 6 p.m.

“I think it will be Whiteland,” Paul Ferguson said. “I think Whiteland is the superior team to Shelbyville. Whiteland is an athletic team that has some size, some strength and has some guys that can score. They’ve just been inconsistent this year. I’ve seen them play some really good games this year, and then I’ve seen some games where they didn’t play well. We’ll see what they’ve got Friday night vs. Shelbyville.”

Probable starters for tonight’s Columbus North Sectional semifinal:

Columbus East;Ht.;Class;PPG

G-Ben Sylva;6-2;Sr.;17.4

G-Zane Moravec;5-7;Sr.;6.1

G-Keaton Lawson;6-2;Fr.;6.1

F-Julius Dailey;6-3;Sr.;9.1

F-Pete Coriden;6-4;Sr.;2.8

Columbus North;Ht.;Class;PPG

G-Luke Harmon;5-11;Sr.;8.9

G-Ty Ferguson;6-0;Sr.;9.0

G-Cooper Horn;6-3;Sr.;17.6

G-Tyler Blythe;5-11;Sr.;7.2

F-Damon Edwards;6-2;Sr.;4.8