NORTH ROBINSON — Mason Studer has been one of Colonel Crawford’s top players for the last two seasons. But he was needed to really step up Friday night.

The Eagles’ other star, Carter Valentine, was shut out in the first half and Crawford held a slim 25-19 lead at the break.

But the point guard stepped up in a big way.

Studer scored 12 points in the first half and finished with 30 as the Eagles held off a scrappy Buckeye Central team, 64-49.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 7-0 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, 11-0 overall. And the Eagles have a huge non-conference game at home with Lexington tonight.

Buckeye Central fell to 2-6 in the conference, 3-9 overall.

But the Bucks may have played Colonel Crawford as tough as anyone this season. The first time, Crawford won, 54-42.

Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said that the Bucks are a better basketball team than their 3-9 record shows.

“They do a great job of hanging around in games,” Sheldon said. “It’s never a blowout, it’s just close. I thought they did a great job hitting 3s and defensively; we didn’t shoot it well in the first half. That was the difference, we got great looks and we didn’t shoot it well.

“In the second half, we made some shots and got some offensive rebounds,” Sheldon added. “Anytime you win by 15, it’s a good win.”

Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell said that his team plays hard every night, but some small mistakes in every game cost his team.

“Every night. The conference is tough, our non-conference schedule is tough,” Howell said. “We play everyone tough. We practice hard, we can stay with anyone. We just make little mistakes that cost us. Tonight, it was 20 offensive rebounds we gave up.

“Colonel Crawford is a very good basketball team. We played hard tonight.”

Studer’s performance was critical. Valentine scored 15 points in the second half, but when the offense was needed early in the game, he came through.

“(BC packs) it in the lane,” Sheldon said. “We didn’t have the driving angles because they just clog up the paint. When teams clog up the paint, you have to make shots. In the first half, I think we were three of 13 from three. That’s what happened. They’re clogging it up, making us shoot 3s and they were good looks, guys we want taking the shots.

“If you look at the second half, in the third quarter, we made three 3s,” Sheldon added. “And we got some second shots off the offensive glass. We got some stops, and we got some transition stops.”

Buckeye tied the game at 15-15 early in the second quarter on an Alex Kanney layup, before Studer scored in the lane, Braxton Baker added a 3 and Studer came back with a layup and a 3, giving the Eagles a six-point lead at the half.

The Bucks trailed by six, 36-30, on an Aiden McDougal 3 with 4:43 left in the third period, before Crawford outscored the Bucks the rest of the way, 12-7, to take a 48-37 lead into the final frame.

“We might be the best 3-9 team in the area,” Howell said. “We just can’t get over the hump.

“We played tough tonight,” he added. “I would take this team anywhere. We play hard every night.”

BC made 16 of 35 shots from the floor for 46 percent. McDougal scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Kanney finished with 13 points and Tyler Sanderson added eight.

“We shot the ball well in spurts,” Howell said. “We can shoot the basketball.”

“A couple of times we made some careless turnovers, we’re only averaging seven a game,” Sheldon said of his team’s ability to take care of the basketball. “It’s a good win, Tom (Howell) does a good job over there and they just muck up games. They’re sorta scrappy and their motion offense, pass, pass, pass. We tried to press them, but we couldn’t turn them over to speed them up.”

Colonel Crawford won the junior varsity game, 45-37. Sophomore Trevor Vogt led the Eagles with 17 points and junior Ethan Holt scored 14.

Box score

Buckeye Central        8     11      18     12 — 49

Colonel Crawford   15     10      23     16 — 64

Buckeye Central (3-9, 2-6 N10): Shots 16-35; 3-pt. shots 6 (Alex Kanney 3, Aiden McDougal 2, Tyler Sanderson); Free throws 9-12; Rebounds 18; Turnovers 18. Scoring: Logan Niese 1 1 3, Stephen Sostakowski 1 2 4, Casey Geissman 3 0 6, Aiden McDougal 5 3 15, Tyler Sanderson 2 3 8, Alex Kanney 5 0 13.

Colonel Crawford (11-0, 7-0 N10): Shots 24-57; 3-pt. shots 6 (Mason Studer 4, Carter Valentine, Braxton Baker); Free throws 10-15; Rebounds 30; Turnovers 7. Scoring: Mason Studer 12 2 30, Derek Horsley 1 1 3, Braxton Baker 2 1 6, Carter Valentine 4 6 15, Jacob Maddy 1 0 2, Carson Feichtner 4 0 8.

JV: Colonel Crawford 45-37.