NEW WASHINGTON — According to Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon, his Eagles played a clinic Saturday night in New Washington.

“(Buckeye Central) is a good team,” Sheldon said. “And I thought that was our most complete game. The start is what I was most happy with, the way we came out on the road and got off to a hot start. That’s what good basketball teams do.”

The results spoke for themselves.

The Eagles shot 61 percent from the floor and five players combined to knock down 14 3-point shots in beating the Buckeye Central, 91-31.

Crawford remained a game ahead in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, improving to 9-0 and 13-0 overall. Buckeye Central, which has played improved basketball in recent weeks, fell to 4-5 and 6-7.

The Eagles hit 37 of 61 shots from the floor, and nine of the 10 players on the roster scored in the game. Carter Valentine led all scorers with 20 points and Chase Walker added 17. Drayton Burkhart came off the bench and dropped five 3s and finished with 17 points. Mason Studer and Carson Feichtner scored 11 points each.

“We had great balance,” Sheldon said. “We had five guys in doubles and that’s what’s picked up the last month. Everybody knew about Valentine and Walker, but we’ve had other guys step out when they concentrate on them. It’s a very unselfish group which is what we need to do on both ends of the floor.”

Walker played for two-and-a-half periods before leaving the game with a slightly sprained ankle, according to Sheldon.

“Chase Walker had a monster game before he sprained his ankle a little bit,” Sheldon said. “You look at his numbers and our guards around him made shots when they tried to double him. We got it out and we hit shots. It all started with our defensive end.”

The two teams battled to a 10-10 tie after Alex Kanney drained a 3 with 3:50 in the first period. But the Eagles didn’t allow a BC point for nearly seven minutes as part of an 18-0 run, en route to a 44-15 lead at the half.

Both Sheldon and Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell felt that Crawford’s defensive pressure was the difference.

“They controlled everything from the tip,” Howell said. “They got in our face on defense, they ran up and down the floor and we couldn’t keep up.”

“The pressure that we put in, we turned them over and got easy shots,” Sheldon said. “We sped them up, we didn’t want them to be able to set the tempo. I thought we did a good job of forcing turnovers then translate to offense.”

Howell said that his team has had success in transition, but that Crawford’s superior athletic ability was difficult for his team to control.

“The way (CC) shoots it and their length,” Howell said. “Chase is 6-foot-5 on the block, and you have Valentine, 6-foot-5 at guard. And they had a young man who has been hurt, he came back and he’s 6-foot-4.

“We got outshot, we got outplayed, we got outplayed playing defense,” Howell added. “Everything we did on the floor they did 10 times better.”

Aiden McDougal led Buckeye Central with eight points.

“(Defense is) what pushed us on the offensive end and our guys came out,” Sheldon said. “(BC) is a team that’s very good, look at what they did to Carey over here and Mohawk over here. I was just happy with the start we got off to.”

Colonel Crawford won the junior varsity game, 50-15. Ethan Holt led CC with 23 points and Jacob Maddy scored 14.

Box score

Colonel Crawford      20    24     24      23 — 91

Buckeye Central        10       5       8         8 — 31

Colonel Crawford (13-0, 9-0 N10): Shots 37-61; 3-pt shots 14 (Drayton Burkhart 5, Carson Feichtner 3, Mason Studer 3, Carter Valentine 2, Nolan McKibben); Free throws 3-7; Rebounds 31; Turnovers 5. Scoring: Mason Studer 4 0 11, Derek Horsley 1 0 2, Brock Ritzhaupt 1 0 2, Nolan McKibben 1 0 3, Carter Valentine 8 2 20, Mason McKibben 4 0 8, Drayton Burkhart 6 0 17, Chase Walker 8 1 17, Carson Feichtner 4 0 11.

Buckeye Central (6-7, 4-5 N10): Shots 11-39; 3-pt. shots 4 (Aiden McDougal 2, Alex Kanney, Casey Geissman); Free throws 5-5; Rebounds 20; Turnovers 17. Scoring: Casey Geissman 1 2 5, Aiden McDougal 3 0 8, Tyler Rose 1 0 2, Alex Kanney 2 2 7, Tyler Sanderson 1 0 2, Brady Kerschner 3 1 7.

JV: Colonel Crawford 50-15.