GALION — It was the beginning of the Booby Gossom era at Galion and the Barry Egan era at Bucyrus.
The difference came down to execution.
Galion shot 55 percent from the field and outrebounded Bucyrus 38-24 to give the Tigers a 66-45 victory in the 206th renewal of this historic cross-county rivalry on the hardwood.
“We were trying to control the pace of the game,” Gossom said. “We knew they were going to try to come out and press and they were going to push it and try speeding us up. I thought we did a great job of just playing at our pace and not only controlling the glass, controlling the tempo of the game.”
Galion started fast, jumping out to an 18-9 lead in the first quarter. The Tigers hit eight of 12 shots from the field and the defense held Bucyrus to four of 13.
“We missed 10 layups in the first half, and these are things we have to finish,” Egan said. “And we missed (nine) free throws. We had good shots. We just didn’t do a good job of making them.”
The Redmen focused on Galion all-Ohioan, Isaiah Alsip, defensively and did a reasonable job, holding the senior star to nine points in the first half.
Enter Matt McMullen. The junior hit a pair of three-point shots in the first half and finished with four treys for the game to take advantage of the extra attention the defense was paying Alsip.
“Matt doesn’t have much varsity experience, so we know coming in he’s kind of our dark horse,” Gossom said. “He’s the one who’s going to step in, if they want to double Isaiah, then Matt’s the guy who has to step up and hit shots and he did that tonight.”
“It’s the nature of the beast,” Egan said of the strategy and Galion’s counter to it. “You’ve got to take one chance to try to get another opportunity. They did what they had to do. I knew Bobby would do a very good job.”
Bucyrus’ shooting struggles continued in the second quarter as the Redmen connected on just three of 11 shots, allowing the Tigers to expand their advantage to 35-19 by halftime.
The Redmen were within 22-17 when Gabe Higginbotham hit a pair of free throws with 2:24 left in the half. But a 13-2 Galion run to the end of the quarter created the 16-point separation at intermission.
“We tell them that basketball is a game of runs,” Gossom said. “We want to stop theirs short and have one of our own and have it go longer and I thought we did a good job of that.”
Bucyrus did manage to hit six of nine shots in the third quarter, but the Tigers matched that and then some, dropping 10 of 17 attempts to take their lead to 57-33 by period’s end.
Both coaches used the fourth quarter to substitute liberally with the Redmen trimming three points off the deficit to set the final at 66-45.
“We had spurts where we played the way I think they can play and we had spurts where I think we can play that way, as well,” Egan quipped. “We’re kind of a work-in-progress.”
Alsip led all scorers with 17 points for Galion while McMullen added 14. Stephen Thompson grabbed 11 rebounds — including four offensive boards — to help the Tigers to their 14-rebound edge.
“We tell him to defend and rebound,” Gossom said of Thompson. “You’re going to average eight points a game just on offensive boards. He did a heck of a job, too, just being aggressive.”
Higginbotham topped Bucyrus with 12 points while Mike Wise had 10, all coming in the second half. Freshman point guard Joe Rager had four rebounds.
Rager and fellow frosh Jake Hamm each played exclusive varsity and Egan agreed it was a big jump for his youngsters this year.
“And it’s a big change for three sophomores too,” Egan said. “They’re being asked to do things they hadn’t been asked to do before. And we had a junior in the same situation and a senior.”
“Really, the difference was on the defensive end,” Gossom said. “I thought we did a heck of a job. I was a little concerned coming in with the way we’ve been practicing this week, but I thought we came out with some intensity and great effort.”
“Our kids didn’t quit. They’re trying to do what they’re coached to do,” Egan said. “They accept coaching awfully well. I can’t ask anything more than that.”
In the junior varsity game, Galion overcame a sluggish first half to glide past the Redmen, 46-29.
The Tigers trailed 14-8 at halftime and were shut out in the second quarter. But the offense caught fire in the second half to outscore Bucyrus, 38-15, to pull away to the win.
Garrett Ison had a game-high 12 points for Galion and Kyle Foust added eight. Karson Kimmel, Spencer Huff and Ethan Powers had seven each for the Redmen.
Box score
Bucyrus 9 10 14 12 — 45
Galion 18 17 22 9 — 66
Bucyrus (0-1): Shots 17-46; 3-pt. shots 0-8; Free throws 11-20; Rebounds 24 (Joe Rager 4, Mike Wise 4); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Joe Rager 1 1 3, Zach Delaney 1 0 2, Mike Wise 4 2 10, Grady Jackson 4 0 8, Nick Middleton 3 2 8, Spencer Huff 1 0 2, Gabe Higginbotham 3 6 12.
Galion (1-0): Shots 29-53; 3-pt. shots 5-15 (Matt McMullen 4, Isaiah Alsip); Free throws 3-6; Rebounds 38 (Stephen Thompson 11); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Troy Manring 4 0 8, Isaiah Alsip 6 2 15, Brayden 3 0 6, Matt McMullen 5 0 14, Carter Keinath 3 1 7, Rece Payne 4 0 8, Stephen Thompson 4 0 8.
JV: Galion 46-29.