GALION — Most Galion basketball fans know of the dynamic duo of Cooper Kent and Elijah Chafin.
But even Tigers head coach Tyler Sanders was surprised when he heard the stats for senior Steven Glew after a convincing 70-35 non-league win over Bucyrus here Tuesday night.
“Wow, I didn’t even see that yet. That’s incredible numbers. Steven’s been such a massive piece to this. He’s so consistent. Every day in practice, in the weight room, game time. And now he’s starting to score and be a real threat for us,” Sanders said.
Glew scored 19 points, grabbed 9 rebounds (5 offensive), and added 5 assists and 4 steals. Kent and Chafin each had 20 to lead Galion (8-9).
Glew’s three-pointer at the buzzer helped the Tigers stake a 17-7 after one quarter that set the tone for the game.
“He’s been in double digits in probably 4 of the last 5 games and which has been massive for us to add a third scorer,” Sanders said.
Bucyrus (4-13) was plagued by turnovers, committing 23, 14 in the first half. That and 27% shooting from the field combined to keep the Redmen out of the game.
“We just don’t guard. You can’t guard one-on-one, and you can’t get out in the zone and challenge shooters, it’s going to be a rough night for you against these guys,” Bucyrus head coach Brian Hargis said.
Senior Malachi Bayless, the Redmen’s all-time leading scorer, was held to 7 points, all in the second quarter.
“We created all the foul trouble we wanted for ourselves. We end up playing 3 big games against a team that is guard-oriented and had to go to a zone,” Hargis said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys.”
Noah Burke paced Bucyrus with 10 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.
“He’s having to guard guards and that’s something he’s not familiar with. He’s working and he did his best. The foul trouble created not an ideal situation for us.”
Dylan Coppler picked up his third foul late in the first quarter and forced Hargis to switch his defense around.
“They’re a good team. Props to coach Sanders, in his first year. He’s got them rolling and they play in a tough league, and you’ve seen the difference in the leagues tonight. They play a tough schedule,” Hargis said.
“They came out and outworked us. They ran down the court harder. They crashed harder and they defended better and pressured more.”
Galion scored 22 and 28 points in the middle two quarters as the third period ended with a running clock.
“With the Wynford game Saturday night I saw they just kept letting Bucyrus back in the game. I told our boys that wasn’t something I was OK with tonight,” Sanders said.
“I was proud of them to get it to where it was at halftime (39-22) and then to put your foot down to start the third quarter, that says a lot about our senior leadership.”
Holding Bayless in check was something Galion came in trying to do.
“He had 7 and he sat a little bit in the second half. He’s obviously a tremendous player and can shoot it from anywhere. You just know if you let him get going, it could be a long night. We did a great job, and our ball pressure was relentless,” Sanders said.
Limiting the Redmen to one possession also was a factor.
Galion hosts River Valley Friday in a rematch of a game that the Vikings won 82-47 on Jan. 4.
“They’re so good, well-coached and they got dudes that just pull up right inside half court. The first time around I thought we had guys there and they just made shots. We’ve got to do a better job this time of limiting them in transition,” he said.
Limiting turnovers will also be a key, according to Sanders.
“I think we had around 20 turnovers for a team that averages only 10 per game. We’re maturing and we worked ourselves out of that little slump we had there at mid-season. We’re playing better as we head down the home stretch heading into the tournament,” he said.
Bucyrus hosts Upper Sandusky on Friday night.
“They running-clocked us also. I think we’re better than we were a month ago, but you get games like this,” Hargis said. “But we’ll go back to the drawing board tomorrow and string a couple of good practices together and hopefully end the regular season with some winnable games.”
Carey, Riverdale and Buckeye Central also remain on the Bucyrus schedule.
Box score
Bucyrus 7 15 8 5 — 35
Galion 17 22 28 3 — 70
Stats
Bucyrus (4-13): Shots 12-44; 3-pt. shots 1-3 (Malachi Bayless); Free throws 10-17; Rebounds 31 (Noah Burke 11); Turnovers 23. Scoring: Georgie Floyd 1 1 3, Demarius Munn-Page 2 2 6, Noah Burke 3 4 10, Dylan Copper 1 2 4, Jackson Farrar 2 1 5, Malachi Bayless 3 0 7.
Galion (8-9): Shots 28-41; 3-pt. shots 8-16 (Elijah Chafin 4, Cooper Kent 3, Steven Glew); Free throws 6-14; Rebounds 28 (Steven Glew 9); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Coen Fuson 1 0 2, Elijah Chafin 7 2 20, Jack Rinehart 1 0 2, Steven Glew 8 2 19, Cooper Kent 8 1 20, Quinn Miller 1 0 2, Dominic Capretta 2 1 5.
JV: Galion 46-39.