BUCYRUS (Crawford County Now) — The game conjured up images of peach baskets and step ladders as both Bucyrus and Seneca East slogged through the first half.

The visiting Tigers finally shook off the rust in the second half to ease to a 51-30 Northern 10 Athletic Conference win at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium on Phil A. Joseph Court.

“Luckily, we made it through the first half, kind of like knocked the cobwebs off a little bit,” Seneca East coach Anthony Langhurst said. “We’ve been out of school and haven’t been able to practice a couple of days.”

The Tigers were able to take a 14-8 first-quarter lead despite committing five turnovers and five fouls in the opening frame.

Bucyrus (2-12, 1-8 N10) couldn’t take advantage, hitting just two of seven shots from the field and three of eight free throws.

Seneca East (13-3, 8-2) was able to stretch the lead to 25-10 by halftime thanks to holding the Redmen to just two points. Bucyrus was one for six in the period for a meager 3 of 14 for the half.

“In the first half, we got a lot of the shots we wanted,” Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis said. “There could always be better shots and they just didn’t fall. We’re not a team that’s going to come back from 15 at halftime against anybody right now.”

Though dealing with scoring challenges, the Redmen did a yeoman’s job on N10 scoring leader Luke Mason, who came in averaging 17.8 points per game. Charlie Randall drew the assignment and with some help-side defense from teammates, held Mason to 12.

“They did a nice job of pressuring Luke,” Langhurst said. “Charlie did a great job of making him work.”

Hargis agreed.

“I thought we guarded Mason well,” Hargis said. “I thought Charlie did a great job against him. Guys did a good job coming off ball screens. We didn’t want to double team since they shot 71 percent against us in the last game.”

After sputtering early in the second half, the Tigers jumpstarted the offense. Seneca East went on a 17-7 run over 4-plus minutes to stretch the advantage to 42-17, the last on a 3-point shot from Jaron Depinet. The Tigers’ 44-20 lead after three left no doubt as to the outcome.

“In the third quarter, I thought we did a nice job,” Langhurst said. “The defense turned into offense. That helps when you’re struggling or the other team’s making it hard for you.”

Eight Bucyrus turnovers in the period and 25 through the first three quarters helped fuel the Seneca East offense. The Redmen finished with 29 miscues.

“Not taking anything away from Seneca (East) — we know how they anticipate — half of ours (turnovers) were by our own means, preventable, and that’s kind of been the same story the last few weeks,” Hargis said.

“You’re just not going to win games with 29 turnovers,” Hargis added. “We have at least 25 bad passes, a couple of missed layups, we missed free throws early that could have made it a closer game.”

Lincoln Blizzard led Bucyrus with 12 points on four 3s. Randall added eight points. Freshman Cohen Chapman led all rebounders with 11 boards.

Chapman’s play was a bright spot for the coach.

“Cohen fought hard. He’s slowly starting to look to score and look up at the rim,” Hargis said. “That’s all we’re asking him, play with confidence. There’s not a whole lot of pressure on him as a freshman. We’re just trying to get him in the groove. He’s slowly getting it.”

“They’re obviously in a tough spot,” Langhurst acknowledged of the Redmen. “Their defense is what impressed me tonight. Offensively, it is what it is. Their guys are a little behind the eight ball in that regard.”

Depinet topped the Tigers with 14 points to go with Mason’s 12. The Depinet-Mason duo grabbed five rebounds each.

Langhurst sees some work for his squad moving forward. The Tigers committed 16 turnovers of their own, though winning the battle by 13.

“I’d like to see us clean it up a little bit,” Langhurst said. “Even to start the third quarter, we had two or three possessions where we didn’t get a look.

“We lost Lincoln a few times,” he added. “Luckily for us, he missed a few more than he would normally.”

“We wanted to get longer possessions. I don’t know if we accomplished that,” Hargis said. “Our lack of ball control is an obstacle to that. We can’t trade buckets with anybody.”

“It was just a nice test for us to get out there and get the blood flowing a bit with the downtime we’ve had,” Langhurst said.

Seneca East rallied from a 3-point first half deficit to win the jayvee game, 46-32. Jordan Siesel led the Tigers with 15 points. Kayden Baxter had 14 for Bucyrus.

Box score

Seneca East    14        11       19         7 — 51

Bucyrus             8           2       10      10 — 30

Stats

Seneca East (13-3, 8-2 N10): Shots 22-51; 3-pt. shots 6-16 (Luke Mason 2, Jaron Depinet 2, Brady Bloom, Logan Collins); Free throws 1-3; Rebounds 26 (Luke Mason 5, Jaron Depinet 5); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Keegan Boes 3 0 6, Ayden Perkins 2 0 4, Luke Mason 5 0 12, Brady Bloom 3 0 7, Logan Collins 2 1 6, Jaron Depinet 6 0 14, Landyn Hicks 1 0 2.

Bucyrus (2-12, 1-8 N10): Shots 11-31; 3-pt. shots 4-14 (Lincoln Blizzard 4); Free throws 4-10; Rebounds 25 (Cohen Chapman 11); Turnovers 29. Scoring: Lincoln Blizzard 4 0 12, Charlie Randall 4 0 8, Cohen Chapman 0 2 2, Carson Witten 0 1 1, Quin Ross 3 0 6, London Wade 0 1 1.

JV: Seneca East 46-32.