Cooper Horn soared to new heights this season.
Horn upped his production offensively and defensively. He was a core part of the Columbus North boys basketball team this year that featured six seniors, including him. They helped give the Bull Dogs their first sectional title since 2013 and the first in coach Paul Ferguson’s eight years at the helm. The team finished the year at 17-9.
Going into the season, Horn knew he and the rest of the team had to pick up the scoring slack left by last year’s leading scorer Sam King.
This season, Horn led the team in points (17.6), rebounds (4.0), steals (2.6) and blocks (0.6) per game and is The Republic Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
“We knew everyone was going to have to bump up their scoring a little bit and also the size factor (King) presented to us,” Horn said. “It wasn’t mostly me scoring. My main focus was more the communication on the court, my leadership on the court and the defensive impact I had on the court. Credit to our starters, all their averages increased as well, which helped picked the points we lost from last year.”
Horn has been a key cog in the Bull Dogs program over the past four years, being a starter his first game as a freshman. While he didn’t know what to expect stepping into such a huge role to start his high school career, he credits the coaching staff and the previous seniors before him to help him build confidence and play free on the court.
“They helped me play loose and play confident and not get too nervous about it,” he said. “Honestly, sometimes I got more nervous as a senior because I have more of a burden on my back to support the younger ones in our program and support my teammates because I feel like it is my responsibility to now make sure they feel welcoming and they feel confident when they go out there on the court.”
Ferguson said Horn was the epitome of the team’s motto, “Good teams have great players, but great teams have great teammates.” It’s that phrase that Horn left his biggest mark on with the program.
“The biggest thing about Cooper that is a big separator for him is his ability to raise the level of play of his teammates. That is really the unique ability that Cooper has. He is one of those superstar players that makes everyone around him better,” Ferguson said. “Guys really love to play with Cooper because, obviously, he can score points. Cooper could have scored more points, but his teams would have won less.”
Horn received several honors following the season. He was named senior honorable mention by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. He also was an All-Conference Indiana selection and participated in the Hoosier Basketball Magazine Top 60 workout last weekend.
Horn surpassed the 1,000-career point barrier against Southport in late January. He finished his career with 1,160 points, which puts him sixth on the school’s all-time scoring list.
“The other thing about Cooper is he has a very, very good basketball IQ,” Ferguson said. “His ability to read situations as to when to pass, when to score, it is at a high level. To be perfectly honest, he made me look really good as a coach sometimes when he was making the right play. The game would really slow down for him, and he could see things that other guys couldn’t. I can’t speak enough of his ability to raise the value of play of the team. He will do whatever it takes to win.”
Horn was a multi-sport athlete growing up. Along with basketball, he played baseball from his second- to eighth-grade years until he decided that basketball was going to be his main sport going into high school.
“It was just the culture our team had. I feel like I wanted to keep that going because I wanted to be part of the basketball team, and basketball has been where my passion is. I’ve played it since first grade,” Horn said. “It’s the success I had over this year and the success I’ve had with my teammates, it’s unmatched, and I look forward to doing that with more teammates in the future.”
When Horn got to his junior year, he decided to go out for the football team. The only experience he had with football was flag football in elementary school. He was the team’s leading receiver his junior season, then with a new coaching scheme and offensive system, he thrived in his senior campaign as one of the state’s most prolific pass-catchers.
It made for a busy schedule for Horn, but he said football helped him physically and build strength for basketball season. The downside to having the football schedule was having some rust when he began playing basketball. Horn and the Bull Dogs started the season 0-2 until winning eight of their next nine games.
“I had progressed and got more into basketball shape, but football definitely helped me stay in shape and stay physically ready to compete at the varsity level,” Horn said.
It turned out to be a successful season for North, which won its first sectional title in a decade. Even though Horn wanted to win the regional title game against Bloomington North, he’s happy with how his career turned out with the Bull Dogs, not only on the court but off the court, as well.
“I learned a lot through this program,” Horn said. “I made a lot of friendships that will last a lifetime, and that is what’s more important than winning and losing at the end of the day. The friendships I made are the biggest accomplishments out of all of this.”
Horn wants to continue playing basketball. He’s received interest from Franklin, Hanover and DePauw. He’s also received interest from University of Indianapolis and Butler about football and has contacted Butler to see if he can get a walk-on spot for basketball.
Horn appreciated his time and career at North.
“I definitely feel like I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish,” he said. “Obviously, we wish we could have won more sectionals. Overall, it’s been a great career, and I’m mostly excited about the relationships that I’ve built through this career in basketball. No matter if they are my age, older than me, younger than me, I feel like I’ve built a good base of friends that will last a lifetime, and that’s what’s big for me.”
The Republic 2022-23 All-Area Boys Basketball team:
Cooper Horn, Columbus North: The senior led the Bull Dogs in scoring (17.4), rebounding (4.0), steals (2.6) and blocks (0.6) and added 1.9 assists.
Luke Harmon, Columbus North: The senior averaged 9.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 steals.
Ty Ferguson, Columbus North: The senior averaged 8.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals and led the Bull Dogs with 4.0 assists.
Keegan Manowitz, Jennings County: The senior averaged 14.4 points and led the Panthers with 6.3 assists and 1.7 steals.
Carter Kent, Jennings County: The sophomore led the Panthers with 14.6 points and added 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals.
Owen Law, Jennings County: The senior averaged 11.3 points and 1.5 steals.
Lane Zohrlaut, Jennings County: The senior averaged 7.4 points and led the Panthers with 4.9 rebounds.
Justin Ramey, Jennings County: The senior averaged 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists and led the Panthers with 1.2 blocks.
Ben Sylva, Columbus East: The senior led the Olympians with 17.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals.
Julius Dailey, Columbus East: The senior averaged 9.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and led the Olympians with 0.8 blocks.
Ledger Gelfius, Hauser: The sophomore led the Jets in scoring (12.5) and added 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals.
Caleb Dewey, Edinburgh: The senior led the Lancers in scoring (19.2), rebounding (6.8) and steals (2.3) and added 2.6 assists.
Jacob Scruggs, South Decatur: The junior led the Cougars in scoring (19.0), assists (3.1) and steals (2.1) and added 3.1 rebounds.
Peyton Walden, Columbus Christian: The junior led the Crusaders in scoring (17.2) and rebounding (10.7).
Honorable mention
Brown County: Eli Wrightsman. Columbus Christian: Jordan Burton, Noah Edwards. Columbus East: Zane Moravec. Columbus North: Tyler Blythe, Damon Edwards, Drew Schiefer. Edinburgh: Connor Ramey, Jarrett Turner. Hauser: Taeshaun Tungate. Jennings County: Parker Elmore. South Decatur: Dorian Hacker, Dale Peters. Trinity Lutheran: Eli Ballard.