NORTH ROBINSON — Non-league opponents have been tough on Colonel Crawford. But an inside presence allowed the Eagles to top Northmor 67-55 at Mac Morrison Gymnasium Tuesday night.
The primary force was Jacob Maddy. The 6-5 senior post scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Colonel Crawford (7-3, 4-1 N10).
“We knew they had smaller guards and I tried to just use my size. I had the mentality of going into the paint,” Maddy said.
Maddy served as the perfect complement to Braxton Baker, who poured in 26 mainly on short-range jumpers and transition baskets.
Last season both were role players to all-Ohioans Mason Studer and Carter Valentine. This year, they’ve stepped up to become leaders for head coach David Sheldon.
“It’s definitely been a change. I’ve kind of grown into that role on the court, telling guys what they need to be doing and being more of a leader,” Maddy said. “I’ve developed it on my own and, mentally, it was out of my comfort zone at first. Now I’m getting more comfortable with it.”
The Eagles beat N10 rival Mohawk last week after back-to-back losses on the road to Crestview (Firelands) and Clyde (Sandusky Bay Conference).
“Jacob is a product of the Colonel Crawford basketball program. Every year we sort of define roles. Now his senior year him and Braxton … our kids grow up in the program … that’s what we’ve done for 17 years here. He worked in the off-season and we’re having success getting off to a 7-3 start,” Sheldon said.
Northmor (6-5, 4-2 KMAC) was without 6-foot-2 senior Maxton Lower, who is nursing a shoulder injury suffered against Galion. That opened up the inside more for Maddy and his teammates, limiting the Golden Knights to one shot most of the game.
With Maddy leading the effort, Crawford won the battle of the boards, 32-18. Baker and Ethan Holt added five caroms apiece.
Sheldon felt his team got off to the right start.
“I thought defensively we set the tone in the first quarter. We got that lead at half and that’s an explosive team. They got three guys averaging double-figures. Jacob had a big first quarter (8 of his points) and we play off of him.”
Jaxson Wenger paced Northmor with 20 points, while Hunter Fulk added 13 and Grant Bentley 12.
Baker and Maddy received plenty of support.
“You look at our other guys. Trevor Vogt has 11, Holt had some huge stick-backs and Derek Horsley runs the show and scores 8. We had good balance from those three,” Sheldon said.
“The second half I think we threw the gameplan out the window. We knew they had explosive players. In December and now in January we’ve played a lot of guard-oriented, dribble drive and kick teams.”
Northmor made 9 three-point shots, with 6 of those coming in the second half.
Golden Knights head coach Blade Tackett knew his club faced a tall order.
“We wanted to make them make shots. Jacob hurt us on the offensive glass a little bit. We were making him work hard for every shot,” he said.
“That’s a credit to him. I also credit our guys as well. It’s a tough place to play, a good environment. We hung with them for three quarters.”
Crawford led 32-19 at halftime and the two teams were even in the third — each scoring 16 points — with Wenger hitting a 3 to keep it a 10-point margin starting the fourth.
“We couldn’t get back over that hump, 10 points, after the second quarter. Overall, we executed the gameplan pretty darn good,” Tackett said.
“Baker had a nice game. He made shots. If we get a couple more of those defensive rebounds, we got a chance to win.
With Lower out, the inside game belonged primarily to the Eagles.
“Max would have helped us with rebounds, with points, for sure. Our guys are still playing hard and believe we can win. We believe we are a quote-unquote veteran team,” despite being comprised mainly of sophomores and juniors.
Northmor is improving, according to Tackett.
“We need to take that next step. We’ve won a lot of close games against pretty good opponents. We’ve not gotten over the hump and beaten a real, real good team. We’re knocking at the door. Once we beat that one good team, I think we’ll put a string of them together.”
The Eagles host the Upper Sandusky Rams on Saturday.
“It was a good win after an emotional win Friday night versus Mohawk. We’ll enjoy it, but then we get back to work to get ready for Upper Sandusky.”
Sheldon said his team is becoming a player-led group.
“I think the past two games, after those losses, they’ve done that and that’s got to continue if we want to be successful throughout the entire year.”
Maddy said both he and his team have room to improve.
“Sometimes I have an open lay-up that I miss. We had that streak where we lost three games and we can’t give up points like that. Those were high scoring games. After Clyde, we got on each other, and practices got harder and have had a lot more defensive practices.”
The Eagles won the junior varsity game, 46-37. Payne DeGray had 21 and Logan Goddard 10 for Colonel Crawford. Bo Landin led Northmor with 18 and AJ Bower added 13.
Box score
Northmor 10 9 16 20 — 55
Colonel Crawford 14 18 16 19 — 67
Northmor (6-5): Shots 21-51; 3-pt. shots 9-13 Hunter Fulk 3, Grant Bentley 2, Jax Wenger 2, Drew Hammond, Bryson Keirns); Free throws 4-4; Rebounds 18 (Drew Hammond 5, Hunter Fulk 4); Turnovers 6. Scoring: Grant Bentley 5 0 12, Hunter Fulk 5 0 13, Max Wenger 8 2 20, Drew Hammond 1 0 3, Bryson Keirns 2 2 7.
Colonel Crawford (7-3): Shots 28-46; 3-pt. shots 2-4 (Braxton Baker 2); Free throws 9-13; Rebounds 32 (Jacob Maddy 14); Turnovers 5. Scoring: Trevor Vogt 4 3 11, Ethan Holt 3 0 6, Derek Horsley 3 2 8, Braxton Baker 11 2 26, Jacob Maddy 7 2 16.
JV: Colonel Crawford 46-37.