BUCYRUS — When two teams are evenly matched, little things can make a big difference in a game.
Bucyrus came into the night 2-4, 1-4 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference and Buckeye Central was 2-6, 1-3.
In the final two minutes, the Bucks hit six of seven free throws, scored the final eight points of the game, and the defense held the Redmen scoreless over the last 1:42 to give Buckeye Central a 51-44 win at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“I thought there for a while, we didn’t rebound the ball very well and (Bucyrus) went and got it,” Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell said. “They went and got some 50-50 balls — late third, early fourth (quarters) — I thought we should have had but didn’t come up with. But it was a good team win. I’m taking it.”
Bucyrus (2-5, 1-5 N10) did get five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter but couldn’t take full advantage of it. The Redmen did manage to take the lead twice in the fourth quarter — their first since the first quarter — the last on a stick-back by Grady Jackson with 1:42 left, giving Bucyrus a 44-43 advantage.
But Buckeye Central (3-6. 2-3) score the final eight points of the game to pull out the win. The Redmen hit just five of 17 shots in the final period and 13 of 46 for the game.
“We’re getting good shots,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “We’ve just got to make them. I’ve got confidence in the kids that took the shots. We’ve just got to do a better job of finishing. (Buckeye Central) made some plays down the stretch and that was all she wrote.”
After a slow start for both teams that saw a 10-10 deadlock by the end of the first quarter, the Bucks got the first momentum swing when Alex Kanney started the second quarter by scoring eight unanswered points — on two 3-point shots and a two — to forge an 18-10 lead, that eventually ballooned to 22-11.
“(Kanney) got them an eight-point lead on his own,” Egan said. “He knocked down some shots. We missed our assignment to not let him catch the ball. Once he got going, they got a little bit of fire. But we were able to fight back.”
Bucyrus was able to cut the deficit to five, at 23-18, by halftime despite hitting just two of nine shots. Those two were 3s by Malachi Bayless and Kolton Middleton.
“It was back and forth,” Howell said. “We got a lead a couple of times and couldn’t extend it. When we did extend it, they got back in. They came to play.”
The Redmen scored six of the last eight points of the third quarter to pull within one — 31-30. They then took the lead at 35-33 on Bayless’ second 3 of the night. They regained the lead at 44-43 on Jackson’s put back but could not hang on.
Casey Geissman hit seven of eight free throws in the fourth quarter to help hold off Bucyrus. The Bucks also connected on five of 10 shots, their best shooting quarter of the night.
“We go through stretches,” Howell said of the fourth quarter shooting. “We’re our own worst enemy at times with some decision making. But these kids keep battling. I’m glad we got this one tonight.”
Kanney led all scorers with 15 points for Buckeye Central. Aiden McDougal added 12 and Geissman finished with 10. Damian Dean grabbed eight rebounds.
Jackson topped the Redmen with 12 points — all in the second half — while Joe Rager had 10 and Bayless had nine. Eddie Dagher pulled down eight rebounds.
“I think our guard play was much better,” Egan said. “Eddie Dagher came in and gave us a great loft — Eddie and Dylan Lanker came in a gave us a great lift. We have to play more consistent for a longer period of time.”
“We’ve been playing defense pretty well,” Howell said. “We’ve been doing what we need to do. We give ourselves a chance to win on the defensive end. Our problem is we need to put the ball in the rim up there. We just have trouble doing it.”
“Malachi’s been working on his game,” Egan said. “He’s been coming in and shooting the ball. If you’re coming in and working on your game, he knows what his role is here. I thought (Malachi) and Grady did a good job controlling things out top.”
Bucyrus earned a split on the night with a 49-14 win in the junior varsity game. Kam Lewis and Noah Burke had 12 points each for the Redmen. Blayne Stewart-Barto added 10.
Carter Caudill had five points for Buckeye Central.
Box score
Buckeye Central 10 13 8 20 — 51
Bucyrus 10 8 12 14 — 44
Buckeye Central (3-6, 2-3 N10): Shots 14-46; 3-pt. shots 4-16 (Alex Kanney 3, Casey Geissman); Free throws 19-23; Rebounds 39 (Damien Dean 8); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Stephen Sostakowski 3 1 7, Casey Geissman 1 7 10, Aiden McDougal 4 4 12, Tyler Sanderson 0 3 3, Damian Dean 1 2 4, Alex Kanney 5 2 15.
Bucyrus (2-5, 1-5 N10): Shots 13-46; 3-pt. shots 5-17 (Malachi Bayless 3, Mike Wise, Kolton Middleton); Free throws 13-18; Rebounds 30 (Eddie Dagher 8); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Eddie Dagher 1 0 2, Joe Rager 2 6 10, Mike Wise 1 2 5, Grady Jackson 4 4 12, Jake Hamm 1 1 3, Kolton Middleton 1 0 3, Malachi Bayless 3 0 9.
JV: Bucyrus 49-14.