Caleb Ferguson
As the boys basketball season goes along, Columbus North boys basketball coach Paul Ferguson is hoping his team can win the type of games that the Bull Dogs lost on Saturday night.
A young and inexperienced North squad had its chances down the stretch, but Seymour got it to overtime, and then the Owls were perfect from the field and the free-throw line in the extra period to claim a 60-50 victory.
“We played a lot of really good basketball tonight, winning basketball, but we made losing plays in key moments,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “We need to learn how to win a tight game. But when you don’t get what you want, you get experience, and we got experience tonight, so that will help us down the road.”
The Bull Dogs (0-2) led 10-2 early before Seymour (2-0) answered with a 13-4 run to take a 15-14 lead. North led 22-21 at halftime and 36-31 after three quarters.
The Owls used back-to-back 3-pointers from Brady Harpe to take a 39-38 lead with 5 1/2 minutes remaining. The Bull Dogs came back to take a 44-41 lead, but Seymour tied it at 44-44. After an exchange of turnovers, North played for the final shot, and a 3-pointer from Nolan Pickup from the left corner bounced off the rim.
“We had a really good look to win it,” Paul Ferguson said. “We would have liked to have that one back. We executed the play well.”
In the overtime, Harpe hit two more 3-pointers, and the Owls went 10 of 10 from the free-throw line in outscoring the Bull Dogs 16-6.
Caleb Ferguson scored a career-high 21 points to lead North. Pickup added nine points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Bull Dogs to a 20-16 advantage on the boards.
“We got a lot better from our game on Tuesday and improved in a number of areas,” Paul Ferguson said. “Some of the things we worked on offensively, we did better. We shot the ball better. I’m pleased with our growth. We’re just not where we want to be yet, but we’re playing the long game, and we believe we’re going to be a pretty good team by February.
Seymour 60, Columbus North 50 (OT)
Seymour;6;15;10;13;16;—;60
Columbus North;12;10;14;8;6;—;50
Seymour (2-0): Brady Harpe 5 2-2 16, Bret Perry 1 0-0 2, Parker Thompson 1 6-6 8, Michael Brooks 1 0-0 2, Ethan Silcox 2 4-4 9, Jaylan Johnson 6 11-13 23, Evan Unterseher 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 23-25 60.
Columbus North (0-2): Mason Acton 2 0-0 5, Caleb Ferguson 6 7-10 21, Nate Enneking 3 0-0 6, Max Coomes 0 0-0 0, Nolan Pickup 2 3-4 9, Ben Ferguson 1 0-0 2, Drew Schiefer 1 1-2 3, Garrett Long 1 2-2 4. Totals: 16 13-18 50.
3-point goals: Seymour 5 (Harpe 4, Silcox); Columbus North 5 (C. Ferguson 2, Pickup 2, Acton).
