Ferguson's milestone lifts 'Deer into finals

RISCO, Mo. -- What seems like a lifetime ago, Dustin Ferguson stepped onto the floor for first time in a varsity game in the 2005 Current River Shootout as an undersized freshman. That night, Ferguson scored 40 points in his high school debut for the Clarkton Reindeer and hasn't slowed down since.

Thursday night in the semifinals of the Tri-County Conference tournament, he cemented his place as one of the top players in the history of the conference by scoring the 2,000th point of his career. Fittingly, he scored 39 points on the evening as he helped the Reindeer reach the conference championship game for the fourth straight year with an 80-75 win over the Cooter Wildcats.

Despite the game being only the semifinals, the intensity level was that of a championship game as the capacity crowd saw everything from diving bodies to three technical fouls. Ferguson kicked off the game by scoring 14 of the Reindeer's 23 first-quarter points.

However, an Edward Forsythe 3-pointer in the waning minutes pulled Cooter to within two.

The early minutes of the second period produced one of the most incredible plays of the year as Ferguson tossed an alley-oop pass from the wing that was caught by fellow senior Justin Brown for an electric two-handed jam.

Ferguson had a big quarter of his own by knocking down four 3s as he had 25 points at the halfway mark. Another drive to the hole from Brown helped the Reindeer stretch their lead to 48-37 at the half.

"Dustin is just one of those guys that works so hard," Clarkton coach Scottie Blackburn said. "He's always in the gym working on his game and he's one of those rare guys that just has a knack for scoring."

The Wildcats apparently pushed the right buttons at halftime though as they owned the third quarter thanks in large part to sophomore Zach Watkins, whose nine points led the Cooter comeback.

"That Watkins kid is going to be a heck of a player," said Blackburn. "I cringed every time he caught the ball tonight."

The Wildcats went on to outscore Clarkton 24-15 in the period as they cut the Reindeer lead to 63-61 with a quarter to play.

Clarkton was able to regain control down the stretch though as Ferguson went 5-for-6 from the free throw line on the period, and received a standing ovation for reaching the milestone.

"Two-thousand points is a great individual accomplishment and one that I am very proud of," Ferguson said. "I know that sometimes it's hard on guys when you have a teammate who shoots a lot and scores a lot. But my teammates have been great through it all and I wouldn't trade them for anything. We will celebrate until about 8 o'clock tomorrow morning and then we'll start getting ready for Campbell.

"Our senior class wants to go out the same way we came in the Tri County, which is on top, and tomorrow night is our chance."

Despite a late technical foul on Justin Brown, the Deer' were able to cross the finish line with a five point victory.

Ferguson was joined in double figures by fellow seniors Brown and Casey Redden with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Zach Watkins' 17 points led the way for the Cooter offense.

With the win, the Reindeer will shoot for their third conference tournament title in four years tonight against top-seeded Campbell, an 80-65 winner over Risco in the early semifinal on Thursday.

The 'Deer have won five straight against Campbell in the rivalry series.