MOSES LAKE — While tip-off of the fourth/sixth-place game at the 1B Boys State Basketball Tournament was an early one for the Moses Lake Christian Academy/Covenant Christian School boys basketball team, sophomore Johnny Ferguson wasn’t going to let the Lions finish the year with a loss.

“It was really early (in the morning), but my shot was on point,” Ferguson said. “I kept getting open looks and I could get to the basket when I needed to, and my shot was just falling.”

The Lions managed to leave Spokane Arena with a fourth-place trophy thanks to a 27-point performance by sophomore Johnny Ferguson in a 45-40 overtime win over top-seeded Lummi Nation.

The win capped off Ferguson’s sophomore campaign, having stepped into a full-time starting role after coming off the bench for the Lions his freshman year.

“He completely surprised all of us,” MLCA/CCS head coach Emerson Ferguson said. “We knew he was going to have to step into a bigger role, and we trusted him. We looked at what his strengths were, and we put him in a position to go out and do it.”

The six-foot, one-inch guard led the Lions with 434 points scored during the 2023-24 season, shooting 53.7% from the floor and 38.8% from beyond the arc ahead of the state tournament. Ferguson also collected 175 rebounds and 66 assists last winter.

“We thought there was going to be a little bit of a transition for him, but he looked like he’d been doing it for years,” Emerson Ferguson said. “I think it was something he was ready for.”

His season began with a 24-point night on the road against Oakesdale on Nov. 30, helping lead the Lions to a 71-63 win.

“He started there, and he didn’t stop until we were holding up our fourth-place trophy,” Emerson said. 

The performance was a morale boost, he said.

“It made me have confidence and know that I can go out there and compete,” Johnny said. 

Entering 2023-24, the Lions were coming off an appearance at the 2022-23 1B Boys State Basketball Tournament as the No. 5 seed but lost to No. 3 DeSales 65-35 in the quarterfinals and 67-39 to No. 16 Orcas Island in the fourth/sixth-place bracket to finish their season. That team graduated five seniors, two of which were starters – that left some doubt in Johnny’s mind entering this past season. The roster had shrunk from 12 players in 2022-23 to 10 in 2023-24.

“I just thought that we didn’t have enough players and that we would get tired,” he said. 

That doubt quickly washed away — after falling 61-51 to 2B Manson in the second game of the year, the Lions closed out the regular season by winning their last 17 games, then went on to defeat Soap Lake 78-45 in the district championship game to push their win streak to 20 entering the state playoffs.

MLCA/CCS fell to Neah Bay in the state semifinals but rallied to take home a fourth-place finish at the state tournament. Along with Johnny, the bulk of the 2023-24 Lion roster is set to return this winter.

“It’ll be really nice because we’ve already built up our chemistry together,” Ferguson said. “We know what each other likes to do.”

Emerson said he’s looking forward to seeing what Johnny can become on the court with two more years as a Lion.

“It’s awesome – you know what he can do, and you know what a player like him can do for a team,” Emerson Ferguson said. “The thing I think I like the most is his mentality and his coachability, that makes life for our coaches and I a million times easier. He’s a really great kid all around, and it makes us excited to have someone that still hasn’t reached his potential.”

Part of that future development is leadership; Johnny is one of four rising juniors on the Lion basketball team, which did not have any juniors rostered last winter. MLCA/CCS graduated two seniors off last year’s roster, Jonah Robertson and Caleb Jones.

“You lose an incredible leader in Jonah (Robertson) and a great complement to everything that we do with Caleb (Jones), so losing those two guys, we’ve got to have somebody fill in those gaps,” Emerson Ferguson said. 

Ahead of the upcoming season, Johnny has spent time focusing on dribbling, his three-point shot and passing the ball. The rising junior has been dunking in games during the summer as well, he said. 

“It feels really good,” Johnny said of his dunks during a recent summer basketball camp with the Lions. “It hypes your team up.”

MLCA/CCS will look to make its fourth consecutive appearance at the 1B Boys State Basketball Tournament this winter. Along with the rising junior, fellow starters James Robertson, Dennis Gulenko and Max Gulenko will return to the floor.

“Just getting to play with my teammates again,” he said of what he looks forward to the most in the 2024-25 season. “We have another year after this to keep the whole team together and get better together.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. 

This story is part of a series highlighting rising junior student-athletes from across the Columbia Basin.

    MLCA/CCS sophomore Johnny Ferguson (24) steps back to attempt a jump shot during the fourth/sixth-place game of the 1B Boys State Basketball Tournament against Lummi Nation in Spokane. Ferguson scored 27 points in the game.
  

    MLCA/CCS sophomore Johnny Ferguson, in white, fights through contact against Waterville-Mansfield during a game in the 2023-24 season. Lions Head Coach Emerson Ferguson said one of the sophomore’s strengths has been attacking the basket.