NEW WASHINGTON — Wynford was efficient offensively but it was its defense that was special.

A week after the Royals allowed 91 points to a very good Upper Sandusky team, they bounced back in a big way against Buckeye Central.

Wynford allowed the Bucks to hit just 10 of 42 shots from the floor in a 53-28 win over BC Friday night in New Washington.

Wynford improved to 7-2 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, 9-4 overall. Buckeye Central fell to 1-7 in the league, 2-9 overall.

BC managed to score just 11 points in the first two periods as the Royals grabbed an 18-point lead at the break.

“We have really challenged our players defensively,” Wynford coach Steve Mohr said. “I knew Buckeye Central. They want to throw the ball down in the post. I have great respect for their post players, I have great respect for the discipline they show when they run their sets.

“We really challenged our kids and I thought our defense was outstanding,” Mohr added. “We held them to 11 in the first half and I don’t care who you are playing, when you do that, that is great defense. And then in the second half, they had 17. I’m so tickled the way we played defense today.”

The defense was a dramatic turnaround from a week ago, when Upper Sandusky ran up and down the floor.

“Our kids were a little bit humbled last weekend,” Mohr added. “Everyone contributed tonight. Not everyone had their greatest game, but we got contributions from everyone that went on the floor tonight. It was a great team effort.”

Buckeye Central coach Eric Picklesimer said that his team had opportunities and Wynford played well defensively, but the shots just didn’t fall.

“We just didn’t make shots,” Picklesimer said. “We shot 10 of 42. When you shoot that poorly and you give up 15 offensive rebounds, it’s hard to be in a game.

“Wynford played hard defensively but they played a 2-3 zone,” he added. “We got open looks. I think we shot 12 or 13 threes. Probably eight or nine of them wide open.”

The Bucks did a nice job defensively on Wynford star Josh Crall, who scored 20 points. But nine Royals scored in the game, including post Dustin Brady, who scored 10 points.

Mohr said his defense set up his offense.

“It was because of our defense,” Mohr said. “We’re pretty good when we can get out into the open floor. We’re just about as good as anyone in the open floor. But we want to make our defense create our offense.”

Tyler Rose led Buckeye Central with six points and Brady Kerschner finished with five.

“They did a good job of caving inside and we have to attack,” Picklesimer said. “Inside, our guys got some looks and they didn’t finish. They did a good job controlling us inside. When we would attack the rim a little bit, instead of finishing, we wanted to kick it out.”

Wynford won the junior varsity game, 43-29. Toby Butterfield led the Royals with 17. Logan Niese scored 11 for Buckeye Central.

Box score

Wynford                 15     14     16       8 — 53

Buckeye Central      6      5       6     11 — 28

Stats

Wynford (9-4, 7-2 N10): Shots 19-47; 3-pt shots 5 (Josh Crall 3, Jaron Filliater, Isaac Sterrett); Free throws 10-17; Rebounds 36; Turnovers 11. Scoring: Matt McBride 1 0 2, Gunnar Coffman 1 2 4, Isaac Sterrett 2 2 7, Dustin Brady 4 2 10, Josh Crall 7 3 20, James Schiefer 1 0 2, Jaron Filliater 1 1 4, Toby Butterfield 1 0 2, Gavin Leffler 1 0 2.

Buckeye Central (2-10, 1-7 N10): Shots 10-42; 3-pt. shots 5 (Tyler Rose 2, Alex Kanney, Casey Geissman, Damien Dean); Free throws 3-6; Rebounds 17; Turnovers 17. Scoring: Casey Geissman 2 0 5, Aiden McDougal 2 0 4, Tyler Rose 2 0 6, Alex Kanney 1 0 3, Brady Kerschner 1 3 5, Jake Heefner 1 0 2, Damian Dean 1 0 3.

JV: Wynford 43-29.