Columbus North’s Austin Perry drives past Martinsville’s Grady Gardner (5), Alex Stout (10) and Brodee Thacker (33) Saturday in Memorial Gymnasium at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker/For The Republic
After getting off to a slow start and digging themselves a big hole in Friday’s loss at Silver Creek, Columbus North wanted to begin Saturday’s home opener on a better note.
The Bull Dogs did that. They jumped out to a 28-6 lead early in the second quarter and cruised from there to an 81-48 win against Martinsville.
“We talked about wanting to get off to a great start, but our guys were ready to go tonight,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “They didn’t like the way they started against Silver Creek. They thought they could have played better, so they were pretty determined to make sure they had a great start tonight.”
The Bull Dogs, who fell behind 25-4 at Silver Creek before outscoring the Dragons over the remainder of the game, led 23-4 late in the first quarter against Martinsville. Junior Caleb Ferguson scored 11 of his team-leading 23 points in the opening period.
“We just had a growth mindset,” Caleb Ferguson said. “We knew that you want to jump on the other team quick. We didn’t really have a practice to prepare, but we had a little book study, and we talked about training the mind and playing hard and playing as a team.”
Sophomore Austin Perry hit a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers on his way to a 17-point night.
“We just wanted to get out to a better start than (Friday) night for sure,” Perry said. “We just wanted to come in here and play with more joy than (Friday) night, play with more passion. We just had fun out here and bounced back and got a a ‘W.’”
After North (3-1) led 25-6 at the end of one quarter, the Artesians (0-2) outscored the Bull Dogs 34-33 over the next two quarters. But North was able to pull away in the fourth and secure a running clock when the lead hit 36 on a Zach Fedor 3-pointer with 2:52 remaining.
“Our guys were ready to play,” Paul Ferguson said. “They had a great start, great energy from start to finish. When you go play a team like Silver Creek, who is potentially the 3A state champs this year, you play that level of competition, we came back and we knew that we were ready to play well against Martinsville.”
North hit 13 3-pointers as a team. Perry was 5 of 7, and Caleb Ferguson was 3 of 6 from long range.
“It felt great, especially at home in front of the crowd and everything, hitting our shots,” Perry said. “It was fun.”
“AP is a shooter,” Caleb Ferguson added. “I like playing with No. 15.”
Nate Enneking scored 10 points for the Bull Dogs and matched Caleb Ferguson with a team-high five rebounds. Fedor scored all eight of his points after entering the game in the fourth quarter, and Max Coomes added seven points.
“Last year, we were a little inexperienced, and this year, we have some veterans on the team,” Caleb Ferguson said. “We have some new players stepping up into big roles, and it’s exciting to see where it can take us.”
“We’ve just grown as a team, and as a whole, I feel like we’re playing a lot better,” Perry added. “I feel like the mood is a lot better than last year.”
North caused 23 Martinsville turnovers, including 11 in the first quarter.
“We forced a lot of turnovers, we shot the 3 really well, we played very unselfish,” Paul Ferguson said. “As a program, we’re very focused just on being unselfish, sharing the ball, team success, and that’s what our guys did tonight. I’m super proud of our guys. It’s a great way to finish the weekend. We got better, and that’s the goal at this point.”
Columbus North 81, Martinsville 48
Martinsville;6;17;17;8;—;48
Columbus North;25;18;15;23;—;81
Martinsville (0-2): AJ Reynolds 0 3-5 3, Grady Gardner 10 2-2 29, Alex Stout 0 2-2 2, Jayden Inlow 0 0-0 0, Zane Crenshaw 2 2-4 6, Joshua Robertson 0 1-2 1, Rhys Wolf 0 0-0 0, Brodee Thacker 1 3-6 5, Charlie Rawlins 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 13-21 48.
Columbus North (3-1): Eli Smith 2 0-0 5, Mason Acton 2 0-0 4, Caleb Ferguson 8 4-4 23, Nate Enneking 5 0-0 10, Eli Wrightsman 0 0-0 0, Austin Perry 6 0-0 17, Zach Fedor 3 0-0 8, Braylon Thomas 0 0-0 0, Max Coomes 2 1-2 7, Nolan Pickup 2 1-2 5, Ben Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Brennan Hester 0 0-0 0, Ben Kriesant 1 0-0 2. Totals: 31 6-8 81.
3-point goals: Martinsville 7 (Gardner 7). Columbus North 13 (Perry 5, C. Ferguson 3, Fedor 2, Coomes 2, Smith).
