Columbus North’s Caleb Ferguson drives against Heritage Christian Nov. 21 at Columbus North.
The Republic file photo
A pair of young and inexperienced boys basketball teams will battle for city bragging rights Friday night when Columbus East hosts Columbus North.
The Bull Dogs have no seniors. The Olympians have only one senior starter and three seniors on the team.
“Two inexperienced teams going at it,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “A new coaching staff over there, so I think there’s some unknowns going into the game. But at this point in the season, we’re more focused on us and the areas we’re trying to grow and get better at. Our guys are excited to play in that atmosphere in front of a big crowd, and obviously, they know a lot of kids on their team and grew up with those guys. Our guys are pumped. They’re really looking forward to the game.”
East’s new coach is Perry Nash, a former head coach at Jac-Cen-Del and Triton Central who spent the past four years as an assistant at Franklin Central.
“I’ve heard a lot about the North-East game, not only since I’ve been here, but around the state of Indiana,” Nash said. “It’s one of the best rivalries in the state. It’s something I’m excited to be a part of, and I’m just looking forward to it.”
Both teams are 2-3, but have taken different routes to get there. The Bull Dogs lost their first three games before winning their past two. The Olympians started 2-0 before dropping the past three.
“Some of the games that we lost at the beginning of the year, we just needed to grow through some mistakes,” Ferguson said. “The last two games, we’ve been a lot more consistent. We’re getting better as a team and kind of figuring out what some of our strengths are and playing to our strengths.”
East is coming off a 53-46 loss to a Franklin team that is the favorite to win the East Central Sectional that will include the Olympians and Bull Dogs.
“I think we’ve been up and down,” Nash said. “I really liked our first game, and I really liked our last game. I really thought we were playing with the intensity that we need to play with. Hopefully, we can repeat that effort and play with that intensity not for one quarter or two quarters, but for four quarters.”
Sophomore point guard Caleb Ferguson leads North with 14.2 points, 4.5 assists and 2.8 steals a game. Junior guard Max Coomes averages 7.2 points, while junior forward Nolan Pickup adds 5.8 points and 5.0 rebounds and sophomore center Drew Schiefer chips in 5.4 points and 5.0 rebounds.
“They have some height,” Nash said. “They have some pieces. They’re known for their 1-2-2 defense, so being able to prep for that because that’s not something that we see night-in-and-night-out, if we can handle that on the offensive end, and then defensively, we need to disrupt them a little bit.”
Columbus East’s Carter Patterson, left, shoots a layup under pressure from Whiteland’s Ethan Edwards Nov. 28 at Columbus East.
The Republic file photo
East is led by sophomore forwards Carter Patterson (12.2 ppg, 4.o rpg) and Keaton Lawson (9.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.0 apg). Senior guard Jack Fischvogt averages 8.8 points, and junior point guard Mason Reeves averages 8.2 points and 2.0 steals.
“I think East is playing with a lot of energy,” Paul Ferguson said. “Obviously, they were disappointed with the Bedford loss on Friday night, but to bounce back and play as well as they did against Franklin I thought showed some toughness. They’re like we are — they’re kind of growing, coming together, learning through mistakes, but I think they play hard and with a lot of team energy.”
