Columbus East’s Keaton Lawson (3) breaks away and throws down a dunk in the overtime period against Columbus North Friday at Columbus East High School.
Nicholas Shaw | For the Republic
Fans got their money’s worth in Friday night’s boys basketball between city rivals Columbus East and Columbus North.
It took four extra minutes to decide a winner, and the battle of Columbus belonged to the Olympians, who came away with a 52-49 overtime victory in the Orange Pit.
“It just means the world out here to play with my brothers,” East senior Ben Ellegood said. “I’ve been with them since I was a little kid, and we work our butts off every day in practice, and I’m just so glad we got to win this with these guys.”
The Olympians (2-1) led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, only to see the Bull Dogs (4-2) come storming back to tie it. North shut out East over the final 10 minutes of regulation and had a chance to win after grabbing a rebound with 5 seconds remaining, but Ferguson’s full-court pass to Anderson Horn was a little long.
The Olympians’ Keaton Lawson opened the extra session with a 3-pointer and appeared to seal it when his breakaway dunk gave them a 52-46 lead with about 20 seconds remaining. But Ferguson nailed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to keep the game alive. After Lawson missed a pair of free throws with 8.3 seconds left, Austin Perry’s potential game-tying 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim and then hit the back part of the rim and went off to the left at the buzzer, and East held on for the win.
“The credit goes to our seniors. They’ve been in this situation before. We have ran that situation. They own that situation, and honestly, I can’t say enough,” East coach Perry Nash said. “No one works harder than Keaton and Tony (Cowan) and Ben and Carter (Patterson) and Judah (Lewis). Judah is not a senior, but those guys just know what we’re doing.”
The Olympians seemed to be in command the entire game, leading 11-4 after one quarter and 25-19 at halftime. However, a turning point came when East led by 13 in the third quarter, but was whistled for a foul and a technical, and Ferguson made all four free throws to cut the lead to 36-27. That started an 18-5 North run to end regulation.
“We had to turn up the pressure a little bit, and we were able to turn them over and got back in the game,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “Unfortunately, we had a couple shots around the rim just roll out for us. We’d love to have a couple of those go. But it was a heck of a basketball game, a great atmosphere and really fun to be a part of.”
Lawson had 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Lewis and Patterson each scored 11 points to lead the Olympians. Graham Preizer finished with nine points, and Cowan added eight.
“Knowing that we were in control was a confident feeling that lasted in the game. Knowing we were up, we had that chance to keep the game alive,” Patterson said. “Not scoring doesn’t defy us at all. We’re defied by our defense and how hard we play. Us not scoring during the drought doesn’t mean everything to us. It was up and getting in people’s face and playing defense is what our team is built around.”
“We play together. We all share the ball really well. None of us are selfish. None of us care about the stats,” Cowan added. “All we care about is at the end of the day, it’s about us and what we set our program standards to to get the win.”
Caleb Ferguson led the Bull Dogs with 17 points and seven rebounds. Perry finished with 16 points.
As exciting of a game as Friday’s matchup was, there is the possibility of the teams facing off again in the sectional in March at North.
“Our guys played a heck of a game, defense especially,” Perry said. “Every single guy that came in, they played a role. Jack Whaley played his heart out defensively, and Anderson Horn also. Those guys were planning on having a big role, and they played well. The takeaway from this game is that we are going to take a lot of things away. It will only make us more hungry. We’ll clean things up. If we face them again in the sectional, we’ll be ready.”
Columbus East 52, Columbus North 49 (OT)
Columbus North;4;15;16;6;8;—;49
Columbus East;11;14;16;0;11;—;52
Columbus North (4-2): Jack Whaley 1 4-6 6, Ibar Baker 1 2-2 4, Caleb Ferguson 5 6-6 17, Zach Fedor 1 0-0 2, Eli Wrightsman 0 0-0 0, Austin Perry 5 4-6 16, Anderson Horn 0 0-0 0, Ben Kriesant 0 4-4 4. Totals: 13 20-26 49.
Columbus East (2-1): Anthony Cowan 2 2-2 8, Graham Preizer 2 3-3 9, Judah Lewis 4 2-2 11, Keaton Lawson 3 4-8 11, Ben Ellegood 0 2-2 2, Carter Patterson 4 2-2 11, Josiah Kiel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 15-19 52.
3-point goals: Columbus North 3 (Perry 2, Ferguson). Columbus East 7 (Cowan 2, Preizer 2, Lewis, Lawson, Patterson).
