BUCYRUS — Each team had a prolific scorer — Elgin’s Ryan Sheridan and Bucyrus’ Lucas Kozinski. Each performed as expected for his respective team — Sheridan with 25 points and Kozinski with 23.
The difference came down to the supporting casts. Advantage Elgin.
The Comets got 18 points from Evan Backensto and eight from freshman Harrison Sager to help Elgin to a 66-54 non-conference victory at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“Obviously, Ryan scored a bunch like he always does for us. He’s a really good player,” Elgin coach Bill Clem said. “Other guys really stepped up for us and that’s what we’re going to need moving forward.”
Specifically, Evan Backensto scored 18 points for the Comets and freshman Harrison Sager added eight.
On the other side, Bucyrus coach Barry Egan has seen steady progress from his young team offensively, but defense continues to be the Redmen’s Achilles’ heel.
“Stopping dribble-drive penetration is something we work on every day,” Egan said. “We’ve got to be able to keep guys in front of us because, once the defense breaks down, we’re always scrambling, and it costs us. With a team like ours, we have very little room for error.”
Bucyrus (1-12) shot the ball well, hitting 20 of 41 shots from the field and 11 of 15 free throws. But Elgin (9-5) was even better, connecting on 27 of 47 shots. The Redmen also lost the battle of the boards, 26-19, committed 17 turnovers to 14 for the Comets and attempted six fewer shots.
“Evan had a couple of big free throws — our first one-and-one — he put both in,” Clem said. “He had a nice finish on a back-cut in our delay game at the end of the game. Harrison Sager played excellent at the end of the game and took care of the ball. And our point guard, Justin Brown, took care of the ball all night long.”
The game was marked by runs from both teams. The Comets got out to a 14-6 lead to start the game and held a 16-10 advantage after one period. The Redmen trimmed their deficit to 18-17 on a basket by Kozinski with 6:17 left in the second period.
But Bucyrus could not regain the lead. The only Redmen lead of the night was at 2-0, on the first basket of the game by Nick Middleton. Elgin opened the lead to 32-24 at halftime with a 14-7 run over the last six minutes of the second quarter.
“Our kids didn’t quit,” Egan said. “We kept playing hard and we played with a purpose. I thought the kids went out and did the best they could execution-wise.”
The Comets looked to put the game away by scoring six of the first eight points of the third quarter to open a 38-26 bulge at the 4:53 mark. But again, Bucyrus whittled away at the Elgin lead, reducing it to 42-35 by period’s end.
The Redmen continued with the momentum in the fourth quarter, scoring the first five points of the frame to pull within 42-40 with just over seven minutes left.
“I don’t know what Barry Egan has in his timeout magic,” Clem said. “Every time he called one, it was an instant run back at us. Their team showed some resilience. There are some tough kids on that team, and they played really hard all night.”
But Bucyrus could still could not regain the lead. Elgin went on an 10-1 run to get the lead back to double digits and while the Redmen eventually got it back to 54-50 with just over three minutes left, they could not get over the hump.
“We got it to 42-40,” Egan said. “We had a couple of shots that didn’t fall, and we turned it over and it seems like we were just in quicksand from there.”
Mike Wise seconded Kozinski’s 23 points with 12 points and he grabbed six rebounds. Sager had eight boards for Elgin.
“(Wise) really hurt us with his penetration,” Clem said. “He’s going to become a good player. He’s only a sophomore but he plays like an upperclassman already.”
“I’ve known Ryan for a long time,” Egan said of Sheridan, “He was a player for me at River Valley. Ryan was one of those kids who would go in 2-3 hours a night and just shoot, and he made himself a player.
“I think our kids can learn a lot from that, by just picking up a ball and going to the ‘Y’ and spending hour after hour after hour (shooting),” Egan added. “You can’t get in trouble doing that.”
Elgin is building its resume heading into tournament time.
“That’s four (wins) in a row for us now,” Clem said. “We’re playing a little better. We had several close losses at the beginning of the year. We’re a handful of plays from our record being even better than it is.”
“We got a pretty complete effort for four quarters, but we’ve got some things we’ve certainly got to clean up,” Egan said.
“We’re learning,” Egan continued. “We’re kind of like a book that hasn’t been completed yet. We’re kind of stuck in a chapter from who knows where at this point. But we know the kids are going to give us their best and I’m fine with that.”
Elgin also won the junior varsity game, 34-29. Nathan Grim had 11 points to lead the Comets and Isaac Dillon had 10. Spencer Huff topped Bucyrus with 10 and Brady Rankins finished with nine.
Box score
Elgin 16 16 10 24 — 66
Bucyrus 10 14 11 19 — 54
Elgin (9-5): Shots 27-47; 3-pt. shots 2-7 (Ryan Sheridan, Carson Rife); Free throws 10-12; Rebounds 26 (Harrison Sager 8); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Harrison Sager 4 0 8, Justin Brown 1 2 4, Evan Backensto 8 2 18, Ryan Sheridan 9 6 25, Carson Rife 1 0 3, Carter Sager 3 0 6, Kecher Clark 1 0 2.
Bucyrus (1-12): Shots 20-41; 3-pt. shots 3-13 (Lucas Kozinski, Mike Wise, Gabe Higginbotham); Free throws 11-15; Rebounds 19 (Mike Wise 6); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Lucas Kozinski 9 4 23, Joe Rager 2 1 5, Mike Wise 5 1 12, Grady Jackson 0 4 4, Nick Middleton 2 1 5, Gabe Higginbotham 2 0 5.
JV: Elgin 34-29.