NEW WASHINGTON — A winless team can’t look past any opponent.
Yet, according to Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis, that is exactly what the Redmen did against Buckeye Central.
Entering the game, the Bucks had just one Northern 10 Athletic Conference win, so the Redmen took them lightly, to their own detriment.
Buckeye Central (5-6, 2-5) shot well early — hitting 12 of 26 shots in the first half — to build an eight-point lead at intermission, then held off a late Bucyrus rally to come away with a 56-48 win.
“(Buckeye Central) just wanted it more. That was it,” Hargis said. “My guys underestimated them. It was clear before the game.”
Caydin Jarvis — who came in averaging 10.4 ppg. — topped the Bucks with 17 points.
“Caydin had a nice game,” Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer said. “We had him for double digit rebounds (10), was on the offensive glass (6 offensive boards). He was defending Demaris (Munn-Page) most of the night. When Caydin plays under control, he’s pretty good.”
Jarvis’ nine first-half points included a pair of 3-point shots, not his usual forte. He had hit just 21 percent of his attempts from deep through 10 games.
“We give career games to role players,” Hargis said. “That’s no knock on Jarvis. He plays hard. We knew that on film. Has he scored 17 all year? Probably not. It’s frustrating.”
Hunter Caudill scored all 12 of his points in the first half and Jeremiah Fishpaw had nine of his 11 in the second half. The triumvirate of Caudill, Fishpaw and Jarvis combined to exceed their scoring averages by a total of 16 points.
Leading scorer Jack Phillips was right at his season average of 13. That combination pleased the coach.
“The bottom line is we’re so much better when the ball moves and we get everybody involved,” Moyer said. “Jack’s going to get the primary defender every night. That’s fine. He’s able to create and get his teammates some shots. I don’t care who scores. The only thing people look at is the final score.”
Bucyrus (0-11, 0-7) never led, and the score was only tied twice, at 3-3 and 6-6. BC built an 18-12 first-quarter lead as Caudill, Jarvis, and Phillips all hit 3s.
The Redmen also had three treys in the first period, two from Georgie Floyd and one from Munn-Page.
The Bucks added two points to their advantage in the second quarter to go to the locker room with a 32-24 advantage.
“End of quarter situations — we wasted every one of them,” Hargis said. “That’s on us. That’s on the coaching staff. That’s on me.”
Buckeye Central led by as many as 13 — 44-31 at the end of the third quarter — before the Redmen began their comeback.
The visitors went on a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter, with Floyd scoring seven of his team-high 16 points in the run, to pull to within 44-40.
But that was as close as the Redmen got. They were still four back, trailing 50-46 on a basket by Munn-Page with 2:14 remaining. From there, the Bucks scored six of the last eight points to close the game out.
“Shooting the ball well early — seems like we do a little better job defensively,” Moyer said. “We were under 50 percent inside the paint again. We’re giving up too many. We’re getting good looks; we don’t have the ability to finish. We’ve got to get stronger.”
Munn-Page seconded Floyd’s 16 with 15 points for Bucyrus. The junior also grabbed 13 rebounds. Dylan Coppler grabbed 11 boards.
“I didn’t have them ready to play,” Hargis said. “I thought they’d be ready to play. We could tell early on that they were underestimating Buckeye.”
“Brian does a great job with those kids,” Moyer said. “They’re hungry for a win. We knew that. We were hungry for a win too.”
Bucyrus got a split on the night with a 40-21 win in the junior varsity game. Carter Bierce had a game-high 18 points for the Redmen and Da’Shawn Cosey added nine.
Isaiah Kaiser had 11 points for Buckeye Central.
In a schedule quirk, the teams meet again next Thursday at Bucyrus.
Box score
Bucyrus 12 12 7 17 — 48
Buckeye Central 18 14 12 12 — 56
Stats
Bucyrus (0-11, 0-7 N10): Shots 16-48; 3-pt. shots 8-25 (Georgie Floyd 5, Lincoln Blizzard 2, Demaris Munn-Page); Free throws 8-13; Rebounds 36 (Demaris Munn-Page 13, Dylan Coppler 11); Turnovers 15. Scoring: Demarius Munn-Page 6 2 15, Lincoln Blizzard 2 0 6, Georgie Floyd 5 1 16, Dylan Coppler 1 2 4, Carson Witten 1 3 5, DeShawn Cosey 1 0 2.
Buckeye Central (5-6, 2-5): Shots 19-49; 3-pt. shots 7-19; Free throws 11-18; Rebounds 35 (Caydin Jarvis 10); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Hunter Caudill 5 0 12, Caydin Jarvis 7 1 17, Jeremiah Fishpaw 3 4 11, Jack Phillips 3 5 13, Matthew Heefner 1 1 3.
JV: Bucyrus 41-20.