NORTH ROBINSON — Being undefeated midway through the season puts a target on a team’s back. Opponents bring their A game.
Colonel Crawford may have recognized that Saturday night.
One-win Bucyrus came to Mac Morrison Gymnasium and gave the Eagles all they wanted, trailing just 28-24 at halftime.
But Colonel Crawford snapped out of the doldrums with a 53-point second half to pull away from the upstart Redmen, 81-42, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
“I thought in the first half, we didn’t have any sense of urgency. We just showed up,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “You can’t do that. We’re 10-0 and we’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”
The Eagles looked to take control early, going out to a 10-2 lead with help from a pair of 3-point shots by Nolan McKibben. But the Redmen did not wilt.
Mike Wise — second in the N10 in scoring — hit a 3 and a two-point basket and Grady Jackson completed a three-point play to tie the game at 10-10. Colonel Crawford eased back out to a 17-12 lead by the end of the quarter.
“I thought our energy and effort was much better,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “But we’ve got to sustain it for longer periods of time.”
Bucyrus (1-6, 1-4 N10) fought back again, tying the game at 19-19 on a pair of free throws by Grady Jackson and eventually forged a 23-20 lead on a basket by Nick Middleton with 3:21 left in the second quarter.
The Eagles went on an 8-1 run from there to the end of the period to go to the locker room at the break with a 28-24 advantage.
“Their kids came out and played hard,” Sheldon said. “The thing about basketball is you play four quarters. It still ended up 39 (points difference). But give their kids credit, they came out and played hard.
“The first half, we were lackadaisical with the basketball,” Sheldon continued. “We had seven turnovers and they weren’t even pressing us. You can’t have that.”
In the third quarter, Colonel Crawford’s size and depth started to take its toll on the young Redmen. After Jackson scored first in the third quarter to cut the Bucyrus deficit to 28-26, the Eagles went on a 19-7 run to the end of the period to push their lead to 47-33.
The Redmen, after hitting nine of 18 shots in the first half, went cold, connecting on just three of 11 attempts from the field.
“We had really food looks in the third quarter,” Egan said. “We missed three or four easy ones and the got run outs on the back end. That really hurt us. If we can just finish the ball a little better, maybe we could have stayed in the game a little longer.”
The roof completely fell in on the Redmen in the fourth quarter as Colonel Crawford (10-0, 7-0) put up 34 points. Mason Studer and Carter Valentine each had 10 in the frame.
Four Eagles ended in double figures in scoring. Valentine had 24, Studer 21, Chase Walker 12 and Nolan McKibben 11. Walker grabbed eight rebounds.
“It’s nice we had four guys in double figures tonight,” Sheldon said. “And we finally got the big fella involved in the second half with Chase.”
Jackson topped Bucyrus with 11 points, while Wise and Joe Rager had seven each. Wise had five rebounds but finished 10 points under his average scoring.
“We kind of go when Mike goes,” Egan said. “But we had other guys step up. We’ve just got to get more consistent. Whether Mike has a good game or not isn’t indicative. We have the guys who have to step up and play too.”
“We did a good job on (Mike), “ Sheldon said. “He’s averaging 17. He had seven in the first (quarter). We defend night in and night out, depending on who we’re playing.”
The Redmen hope to build on the strong first half and the infectious play of Jackson, according to the coach.
“Grady plays with a lot of passion and it starting to rub off on other players.” Egan said. “Hopefully, this is something we can build on for Monday (versus Mansfield Christian) and go from there.”
“I thought in the second half, we got the pace where we wanted it,” Sheldon said. “Scoring 53 points, we got up and down the floor and that’s what we like to do. You look at our size compared to theirs. It just wears on you.”
“We tried, but they have a lot of shooters, a lot of guys who get looks,” Egan said. “And of course, their post presence is pretty good too. So, we tried to pick our poison in the first half. It’s a tough thing to do.”
Colonel Crawford also won the junior varsity game 71-6. Braxton Baker had 21 points for the Eagles and Ethan Holt added 12. Kolton Middleton had all six points for Bucyrus.
Box score
Bucyrus 12 12 9 9 — 42
Colonel Crawford 17 11 19 34 — 81
Bucyrus (1-6, 1-4 N10): Shots 15-40; 3-pt. shots 3-8; Free throws 9-13; Rebounds 19 (Mike Wise 5); Turnovers 20 Scoring: Joe Rager 3 1 7, Karson Kimmel 2 0 5, Mike Wise 3 0 7, Grady Jackson 3 5 11, Jake Hamm 1 1 3, Nick Middleton 1 2 4, Malachi Bayless 1 0 2, Eddie Dagher 1 0 3.
Colonel Crawford (10-0, 7-0 N10): Shots 31-56; 3-pt shots 10-22 (Mason Studer 3, Nolan McKibben 3, Carter Valentine 3, Drayton Burkhart); Free throws 9-13; Rebounds 36 (Chase Walker 8); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Mason Studer 9 0 21, Brock Ritzhaupt 1 1 3, Nolan McKibben 4 0 11, Carter Valentine 9 3 24, Drayton Burkhart 1 3 6, Ethan Smith 1 0 2, Chase Walker 5 2 12, Carson Feichtner 1 0 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 71-6.