NORTH ROBINSON — It wasn’t an ordinary night. It was on the road at the Cub Cave against a tough Lucas team in a non-league game on a Saturday night.

Yet it was extraordinary for Colonel Crawford head boys’ basketball coach David Sheldon as his Eagles pulled out a 60-57 victory to give the veteran mentor career win number 300.

“I never talk about that stuff beforehand. I think my assistant coaches told them. The kids knew because afterwards when I got in the locker room they were celebrating,” he said.

The Eagles are now 10-3 overall and 6-1 in Northern 10 Athletic Conference play.

“Seventeen years ago, I was very blessed to have our superintendent Ted Bruner and the board of education let me come to Colonel Crawford as a first-year head coach,” he said.

“The 300 wins is not about David Sheldon. It’s about what the program has done the past 17 years. We’ve been blessed to have some great players, unbelievable assistant coaches who don’t get enough credit and, for the most part, the support of parents who let us coach their kids.”

Sheldon said his program instills a great amount of discipline.

“We define roles and how we want to play. Over the years we haven’t always played the same way. We’ve tried to craft what’s best for the group of kids we have,” he said.

Coaching today has evolved, Sheldon said, because the world has changed.

“We live in a society of instant gratification. Back in the day kids would never play varsity basketball until their junior and senior year. Now kids think they should be playing as freshmen and sophomores,” he said.

He used this year’s squad as a prime example.

“We’ve been fortunate here in that our kids have come through the program. Look at Jacob Maddy, he averaged 2 points a game last year on a regional final team as a junior. Braxton Baker was the third option as a junior.

“They waited their turn and I think that’s what we install in our program. If you wait your turn, it will come, if you put the work in. I don’t think kids have changed. I think parents have, but they’ve allowed us to coach their kids. Sometimes we’re the only ones that tell kids no.”

Winning is part of the culture at Colonel Crawford and also within the Sheldon family.

· Area fans will recall another Sheldon. His dad, Rob Sheldon, had an amazing record of 401 wins before retiring in 2003 after 28 years coaching at Wynford.

· Younger brother Chris got his 300th win two years ago — all coming at Western Reserve High School in Collins.

· Sheldon’s wife, Amy Taylor-Sheldon, is approaching 400 career wins leading the Wynford girls hoops program.

“I grew up in diapers in The House of Thrills at Wynford. Going on scouting trips. Living at every practice. When my father was coaching, for my brother and I our baby-sitter was the gym,” Sheldon recalled.

Sheldon mentioned Joe Balogh, Steve Mohr, Steve Gray among others as positive influences in his coaching career.

“I just got to soak that in. Coaching has been a passion in our family. My father, my brother, my wife, and I are all passionate about making a difference in kids’ lives.

“It’s not just all about wins. It’s the relationships you have and seeing kids go on. Now your former players are getting married, and you have to talk to them about the tough things in life. We all face adversity in life, and hopefully we instill that with our kids,” he said.

Sheldon was back to work Sunday morning and is preparing for the remainder of his team’s season. The Eagles host Fredericktown Wednesday night in another non-conference game.

“The thing I’m really proud of is the consistency of our program. That’s due to the great coaches I have all the way down. Three hundred wins. That’s almost 18 wins a year,” he said.

“You see programs with 3 or 4 good years and that’s it. What I’m most proud of is re-loading the past 17 years.”