Ferguson, Fostoria dominate Maumee 88-56, claim 1st NBC title

MAUMEE – The accolades keep pouring in for Fostoria High School's basketball team this season and the latest was a long time coming.Jordan Ferguson scored 31 points, including 18 in the second quarter, to help Fostoria win a share of the Northern Buckeye Conference title with an 88-56 win over host Maumee on Friday.It marked Fostoria's first NBC title in any boys sport and was the basketball team's first since winning the Northern Ohio League championship in 2007-08."It feels great," FHS coach Thom Loomis said. "I'm happy for the kids, happy for the coaches, happy for the community. 2008 was a long time ago – when you think about it, 16 years ago, most of these guys were one or two years old. It's pretty special when you think of it that way."The game was actually tied 19-19 after the first quarter. Will Kubicz scored 10 points for the Panthers, including a pair of buckets from 3-point range, while Ferguson scored 11 for the Redmen. Ferguson took over in the second quarter, scoring 14 straight points for FHS between 6:40 and 3:21. The Redmen outscored Maumee 30-12 to go up 49-31 at halftime."It was a close game up until that point," Ferguson said. "We knew we were going to pull away eventually if we just stuck to our stuff, but no one can predict that. We just got going, I got hot for a minute, we just rode on it for as long as we could."Loomis credited Ferguson's will to win for the outburst."He was a man on a mission," Loomis said. "Jordan is one of those special kids, he can will himself and his teammates to do great things, and he was not going to lose."He played at both ends in that stretch. Deflections, steals, ran the floor, his teammates found him. We did the things we knew we could do based on what we had seen in film and how it went last time."The Redmen continued to pull away in the second half and Loomis subbed out the starters as the game wore on. Ten of the 11 players dressed saw minutes and nine of the 10 scored points. Fostoria also held a significant advantage in turnovers, forcing 28 Panthers miscues while committing just 10.Machi Johnson scored 20 points for the Redmen while Ferguson pulled down 10 rebounds to complete the double-double and had six steals. Jayceon Tucker added 15 points while Kristin Carter-Stokes dished out 10 assists."We've been together since fourth grade so it really does mean a lot to us," Carter-Stokes said of the league title. "We won a quote-unquote NBC championship in eighth grade and for us to bring it all the way out to senior year, I mean it really does show that the work you put in does pay off."The chemistry that the team has built from playing together for so many years has been mentioned throughout the season."It's so much bigger than us," Ferguson said. "We put in so much work on and off the court, building up our program, building up our community to get to this point. You don't get here with just talent: you get here by hard work on the court and off the court. It's just been amazing to be with these guys for so long."Although the league title means a lot to the team, Ferguson and the Redmen are looking toward next weekend's tournament matchup."Coming into halftime we got some guys talking about our record at the school, but we're not worried about that," he said. "We're worried about keeping everybody healthy, winning this game, getting this championship, and we're worried about the tournament now." Fostoria 88, Maumee 56FOSTORIA (18-4, 11-3)Johnson 7-4—20, Kleinmark 1-0—3, Smith 2-0—6, O'Neal 1-0—2, Holmes 1-0—3, Cousin 0-0—0, Carter-Stokes 2-0—4, Tucker 6-3—15, Ferguson 15-1—31, Miller 1-2—4. TOTALS: 36-68 10-15 – 88.MAUMEE (5-17, 2-12)Biernacki 0-0—0, Koepfler 2-0—4, Polkinghorn 3-0—6, B. Kubicz 5-0—12, Dodson 1-1—3, Greenlese 1-0—3, W. Kubicz 9-0—22, Sutherland 2-0—4, Kiss 1-0—2. TOTALS: 24-45 1-6 – 56.Fostoria&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;19&emsp;&emsp;30&emsp;&emsp;24&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;-&emsp;&emsp;88Maumee&emsp;&emsp;19&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;-&emsp;&emsp;563-POINT SHOOTING: Fostoria 6-17 (Johnson 2, Smith 2, Holmes, Kleinmark); Maumee 7-14 (W. Kubicz 4, B. Kubicz 2, Greenlese).REBOUNDING: Fostoria 25 (Ferguson 10); Maumee 22 (Koepfler 5).TURNOVERS: Fostoria 10; Maumee 28.