CRESTLINE — It was senior night at Crestline High School and the seniors on the basketball team played like they weren’t ready to leave.
If Bulldogs coach Tyler Sanders had his way, they wouldn’t.
Led by senior Kaden Ronk — who scored a game-high 28 points and is closing in on the school scoring record — and 22 points from his three classmates, the Bulldogs ran past Bucyrus, 61-42.
The win ensured Crestline its first winning season sin 1997, the importance of which was not lost on the second-year coach.
“It’s not a personal goal of mine, it’s a goal of the kids,” Sanders said. “I really wanted them to get it. These are kids who deserve it.”
That desire turned into a tidal wave that overwhelmed the visiting Redmen as the game wore on.
Bucyrus (2-19) got off to a quick start, hitting six of 10 shots in the first eight minutes — including three 3-point shots — and held a 15-14 lead after one quarter.
“We had great energy, but we also ran stuff,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said of the quick start. “We reversed the ball. We were able to establish Lucas (Kozinski) on the inside. And then we come down and shoot it way too quickly, with no chance for offensive rebounds and no chance to have any type of point cover.”
Getting away from what worked early on cost the Redmen dearly in the middle two quarters. Bucyrus managed just seven points in the second quarter, which allowed Crestline (12-10) to take a 28-22 halftime lead.
Things got worse for the Redmen in the third quarter when they hit just two of 16 shots and tallied four points. The Bulldogs took enough advantage to score 11 points and push their advantage to 39-26 after three.
“The thing I noticed about Bucyrus in watching them a few times this year is sometimes teams start to pull away from them but then usually Bucyrus crawls back into it,” Sanders said. “They give themselves a chance. I made it clear to the kids that they were going to go on those little runs. If we counter those runs, we’ll be fine. It kept that gap enough for us to be comfortable.”
The Bulldogs kept their foot on the accelerator in the fourth quarter, which pushed the lead to as many as 22 points on several occasions before the benches were cleared and the final score was set at 61-42.
“We continue to come out and you’d think we were playing with a shot clock,” Egan said. “We shoot it quick, we don’t have anyone back in point cover and we’ve got no way to stop it.
“We do the same thing every time,” Egan continued. “I don’t know how much more we’ve got to put ourselves in a defensive disadvantage and come down and not run any offense.”
Ronk came into the game needing 35 points to break the Crestline career scoring record of 1103 points currently held by Jamie Potter and Ronk nearly did it in this game. Ten of his 28 point came in the fourth quarter.
Ronk put himself in great position to get the record in the Bulldogs’ tournament game with New London on Tuesday.
“I hope he hits three shots to start the game and we can be done talking about it,” Sanders said. “I’m excited for the kid. I love the kid, he deserves it. But you can tell it’s going through the mind a little bit. He started throwing up some weird stuff.”
Fellow senior Spencer Harley finished with 13 points, classmate Trevor Phillips had seven and Johnny Tesso had two. Ethan Clark had 10 rebounds.
Kozinski led the Redmen with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Wise added seven points and six boards.
“(Lucas) scored three straight baskets and then we don’t throw it to him down the stretch when we needed the baskets most,” Egan said. “We just started yanking the ball. I don’t understand that.”
“After the game, we had kids in there from last year that helped get the momentum going,” Sanders said. “I’m very proud of these kids — four seniors you can’t imagine letting go. I was more emotional letting them go than their parents were, I think.”
“Crestline’s kind of on a roll, they’re a momentum team,” Egan said. “Once they got the momentum, it was tough to recover from that. They have good size down low. They have a nice group.”
Crestline also won the junior varsity game, 41-26. Lucas Cochran had 14 points for the Bulldogs and Hunter Lawhorn added nine. Kolton Middleton had 13 for Bucyrus.
Box score
Bucyrus 15 7 4 16 — 42
Crestline 14 14 11 22 — 61
Bucyrus (2-19): Shots 18-52; 3-pt. shots 5-16 (Lucas Kozinski, Joe Rager, Mike Wise, Grady Jackson); Free throws 1-4; Rebounds 32 (Lucas Kozinski 10); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Lucas Kozinski 7 0 15, Joe Rager 2 1 6, Zach Delaney 2 0 4, Mike Wise 3 0 7, Grady Jackson 1 0 3, Nick Middleton 1 0 2, Gabe Higginbotham 2 0 5.
Crestline: (12-10): Shots 24-49; 3-pt. shots 7-15 (Kaden Ronk 6, Spencer Harley); Free throws 6-9; Rebounds 37 (Ethan Clark 10); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Kaden Ronk 10 2 28, Trevor Phillips 3 1 7, Calvin Reed 1 1 3, Spencer Harley 6 0 13, Ethan Clark 4 0 8, Johnny Tesso 0 2 2.
JV: Crestline 41-26.