ONTARIO (Crawford County Now) — Payne DeGray had a lackluster — by his standards — offensive performance on Wednesday night in Colonel Crawford’s district semifinal win over Western Reserve.

Head coach David Sheldon let him know about it, and the 6-foot-5 junior post responded in grand fashion as the Eagles blitzed Ashland Crestview 61-39 to win the Division VI district crown Friday night inside the O-rena.

DeGray, who averaged 15.2 points per game this season, was held to just 4 that night. He did manage 9 rebounds despite sitting out all but four minutes of the first half.

“If you remember Wednesday, I wasn’t happy with the big fella, Payne, and he rose to the occasion. He was unbelievable inside tonight. Our guys got him the ball,” Sheldon said.

Friday night was a different scenario.

DeGray scored 21 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, had 2 steals, and 5 blocked shots. He was a strong presence around the basket the entire 32 minutes.

“Credit to my team psychologist, coach (Adam) Daniels, who teaches psychology. He knew I wasn’t happy, and that’s the great thing about these guys. They know and want to step up.”

Colonel Crawford (23-1) advances to the regional at Bowling Green State University. The Eagles play at 6 p.m. against Maumee Valley Country Day, a 75-43 winner over Mohawk.

Crestview ends its season at 17-7, after a tough start doomed the Cougars.

“We weren’t making shots, and they were super-hot. I think we had them 6-for-9 from 3 or something like that. Man, you dig a hole against Colonel like that and it’s really hard to get back out of it,” head coach John Kurtz said.

A 13-3 lead for the Eagles made for a relatively easy night. At halftime it was 36-10 as Justice Thompson had just 2 of his team-high 16 points.

Brayden Holt led the way for Colonel Crawford with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.

“Brayden showed why he’s the best player in Northwest Ohio,” Sheldon said.

“He showed it tonight. Not just scoring, but his facilitating, passing, his toughness. He showed why he should be a first-team all-Ohio before it’s said and done. He’s the coach of this team and he leads this team.”

After the opening loss to Crestview, the Eagles have remained unbeaten.

“They’ve come together. And they’re big, they took advantage of that tonight. I don’t remember it being quite like that, the first time we played. But they’re a nice team and I think they could (have success) in the regionals a bit,” Kurtz said.

Other players contributed for Colonel Crawford.

Logan Goddard hit three 3s, all in the first half. John DeGray scored just 4 points, but hounded Thompson defensively.

“It started on the defensive end. Our transition in the first half. We really wanted to get out and go. We got layups in transition, and we got great looks,” Sheldon said.

“John DeGray tonight, he didn’t score, but he had the task of chasing Thompson, the career scoring leader at Crestview, and he did an unbelievable job.”

Last season the Eagles fell 44-38 to Northern 10 Athletic Conference rival Seneca East in the district final at Willard.

“We talked about wanting to get back to this game and showing how much better this basketball team has grown over the last 3 months since Nov. 30 (the loss to Crestview),” he said.

“In the last 14 years we’ve been in 12 district finals. And that’s something to be proud of and not take for granted because it’s so hard to even get to this game.”

Payne DeGray said he was not happy with his semifinal game.

“I was kind of disappointed in myself. I kind of came out lackadaisical. Today there was a mission in the locker room. I know everybody in our starting 5 was ready. We had the look in our eyes, the fire,” he said.

A bit of a revenge factor was at play as well.

“Coming off of football we weren’t in shape and all throughout the year going undefeated, it was the one thing lingering,” DeGray said.

“When they were playing Seneca East — it would’ve been nice to play Seneca — but we wanted Crestview just to redeem ourselves from that loss at the beginning of the year.”

DeGray’s overall game has improved from his sophomore season, including his work around the basket.

“Probably on my inside finishes. I get double- and triple-teamed sometimes and just going up strong. I also like to get it to my shooters outside, Logan hitting 3s and Brayden out there. Earlier this season I was hitting John and KB (Kaden Bruner) on dump-off passes inside,” he said.

“Nobody’s that selfish to just take it themselves.”

Box score

Crestview                      6        4      15      14 — 39

Colonel Crawford     19      17      11      14 — 61

Crestview (17-7): Shots 12-33; 3-pt. shots 4-20 (Tyson Ringler 2, Karter Goon 2, Drew Spoerr 2, Justice Thompson, Cole Bowman); Free throws 7-10; Rebounds 9 (Tyson Ringler 5); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Tyson Ringler 2 0 6, Karter Goon 2 2 8, Justice Thompson 5 5 16, Drew Spoerr 2 0 6, Cole Bowman 1 0 3.

Colonel Crawford (23-1): Shots 21-38; 3-pt. shots 7-13 (Brayden Holt 4, Logan Goddard 3); Free throws 12-14; Rebounds 20 (Brayden Holt 8); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Logan Goddard 3 0 9, Parker Weithman 0 2 2, John DeGray 2 0 4, Brayden Holt 9 3 25, Payne DeGray 7 7 21.