NORTH ROBINSON — There were a lot of firsts at Mac Morrison Gymnasium Friday night.
Let’s start with a Northern 10 Athletic Conference championship on the line and when the dust settled four schools all claimed a share of the title, a first in the league’s decade of existence.
Mohawk (16-6, 10-4), by virtue of its 52-38 win over Colonel Crawford (16-6, 10-4), shared the title with the Eagles, Seneca East, and Carey. Upper topped Carey 51-33 while Seneca East handled Wynford 78-47 resulting in a quartet of champions.
The Warriors came out firing, taking a commanding 21-11 lead after 8 minutes and led throughout. Six players scored for Mohawk in the first quarter and 7 overall.
“We told the kids on Monday at practice, you’ll remember this the rest of your life,” Mohawk coach Paul Dunn said. “We knew that we were the hunter tonight, we weren’t protecting anything. We had to go out, play aggressive and not be passive.”
And they were aggressive, applying a strong defense to the host Eagles, even though they were outrebounded 24-17.
Kahne Hayman and Hunter Haynes led the team with 12 points each. Connor Flood, a 6-foot-6 junior post, added 8 points but was a beast inside with 8 rebounds and 7 blocked shots.
“I told my guys, on Monday, 2024 goes on the banner as league champs,” Colonel Crawford head coach David Sheldon said.
“When they have (kids) someday, they’re gonna say, ‘Hey, I was a league champ.’ Nobody is going to put an asterisk by that. Look back at the two Upper wins by two, you beat Wynford by two here, and you’re a league champ. This league, one through six, is the best balance I’ve ever seen since the N10 has been formed.”
Colonel Crawford got 14 points apiece from Trevor Vogt and Payne DeGray. DeGray had 9 rebounds, 5 blocks and a steal.
At halftime Mohawk led 30-18. Its biggest lead came after the third quarter when it swelled to 15 at 38-23.
“This game was similar to how we played them last time, but the biggest difference I think is our kids have matured a lot since that first game. You can’t relax, you can’t go away from what got you that lead,” Dunn said.
The Eagles won 31-27 in the first meeting.
“Defensively, I thought our kids have really taken to understanding the situations, the guys we have to guard and how to guard them. That allowed us to take that lead into halftime and still withstand the runs.”
Crawford fought back and thanks to Vogt’s 6 points in the fourth drew to within 7 at 43-36 with 2:56 remaining.
Sheldon said Mohawk’s hot shooting early was the difference.
“”I thought the first quarter was the key. We’re giving up 38 points a game, and they come out and get 21 and four 3s in the first quarter. I told Paul after the game; you look at what they did in the second round. They go undefeated (7-0) in the second round and they’re sharing the ball,” he said.
The Eagles converted on 16-of-20 free throws for nearly half their points. From the field they hit just 10-of-49 shots.
“We struggled to score because of the big fella. Flood owned the paint. He altered shots of our post and our guards. Mohawk just played well tonight. That’s the bottom line,” Sheldon said.
“Defense. That’s what Mohawk has done the last several weeks. They’ve guarded people and that’s why they got a share as well.”
Boomer Cleveland was limited to 4 points, but Ben Bogner hit a pair of three-pointers for Mohawk. The second one opened the third quarter and pushed the Warriors lead to 15 points (33-18).
“They stepped up and Kaleb Bish played great defense. It shows the depth you have. Kahne scores 12 for us and Ben hits those shots. We told him this is a game where you need to show up and make shots for us and he was aggressive and shot ’em.
“Our kids responded, and we made shots when we needed to down the stretch. When you win a game in a hostile environment like this, it shows you the kind of talent you have. This is a tough place to play. These are the games, we told the kids at practice Monday, that you’ll remember the rest of your life.”
Despite the loss, Sheldon acknowledged how far his squad has come this season.
“If you told me in November, returning 7.5 points from last year’s team, that we’d be league champs with what Mohawk returns, Carey had everyone back, Wynford, Seneca East … I couldn’t be more proud of a team over my 18 years. It’s our 26th championship across the board in 18 years.”
The Eagles will host the winner of Buckeye Central and Plymouth in a Division IV sectional championship on Friday. Mohawk plays Woodmore on Wednesday.
Both teams are well prepared for the tournament trail thanks to their schedules.
“Look what our teams have done non-league wise. There’s six teams with double-figure wins, and that isn’t because of our league. We’ve done real well in non-league. Look at some of the wins we’ve had. We’ve played four league champs in non-league and beat two of them,” Sheldon said.
“You guys (the media) have loved this league. We as coaches have hated it this year. But it’s just a credit to the balance of this league all year.”
Dunn said he may have underestimated his team at mid-season.
“I told the team back in January we might not have a chance for a league title. I’m eating crow on that right now. They could have been down on it, but they competed, and we talked about how important the second half is in the N10,” he said.
“Winning a league title doesn’t happen a lot at Mohawk, so I’m real proud of them.”
Box score
Mohawk 21 9 8 14 — 52
Colonel Crawford 11 7 5 15 — 38
Mohawk (16-6, 10-4 N10): Shots 19-47; 3-pt. shots 6-14 (Brayden Chester 2, Hunter Haynes 2, Ben Bogner 2); Free throws 8-13; Rebounds 17 (Connor Flood 8); Turnovers 6. Scoring: Kahne Hayman 4 4 12, Ben Bogner 2 0 6, Kaleb Bish 2 0 4, Boomer Cleveland 2 0 4, Hunter Haynes 4 2 12, Brayden Chester 2 0 6, Connor Flood 3 2 8.
Colonel Crawford (16-6, 10-4 N10): Shots 10-49; 3-pt. shots 2-12 (Trevor Vogt 2); Free throws 16-20; Rebounds 24 (Payne DeGray 9); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Trevor Vogt 4 4 14, John DeGray 2 0 4, Connor McMichael 1 4 6, Payne DeGray 3 8 14.
JV: 41-26.