By Dan Messerschmidt
BUCYRUS — For a while, it appeared that North Union would win going away.
Bucyrus had other ideas.
The visiting Wildcats ran off to a 10-0 start and led by as many as 12 in the second quarter. But the Redmen rallied to eventually take a two-point lead.
However, two costly turnovers down the stretch spelled doom for the Bucyrus comeback and the Redmen dropped a heart-breaking 56-52 decision in a non-league game at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“We have to learn how to finish games,” Bucyrus coach Justin Mattix said. “We haven’t learned how to win, to play with a lead.”
Indeed, after trailing the entire game, the Redmen overtook the Wildcats at 50-48, on a basket by Gram Dick with 2:42 left in the game. But North Union (7-7) went on an 8-2 run from there to secure the win.
“I wasn’t happy with our energy to start the third quarter,” Wildcats coach Brian Terrill said. “We have a lot of young kids. We’re still looking for a leader, so we’ll have spells like that.”
North Union got a pair of early 3-point shots from Riley Price to fuel the 10-0 start. Bucyrus (2-11) missed its first five shots in that time.
The Redmen finally got on the board on a basket by Ryan Evans at the 4:28 mark. Evans had five more points in the frame to help Bucyrus stay within shouting distance, trailing 22-11 after one.
“Our zone kind of threw them off at first,” Mattix said. “But they hit some shots that we hadn’t seen them hit on film. Our rotations were pretty bad early.”
Evans picked up two quick fouls late in the first quarter and sat the entire second quarter. Even so, Bucyrus shaved two points off the deficit in the frame, as the Wildcats led, 33-24, at intermission.
“Number 15 (Evans) is a nice player,” Terrill said. “They did a better job in the second half (defensively). We didn’t do a good job of running the offense. We were taking the first shot and we weren’t waiting to get an open shot.”
Evans hit a pair of 3s in the third period to help the Redmen to a 17-11 edge in the quarter, cutting the North Union lead to 44-41 by period’s end.
“Ryan comes out and hits two 3s to start (the half),” Mattix said. “That’s just his preparation. He has confidence that they’ll go in.”
Another Evans 3 tied the game at 44-44 to start the fourth quarter and the Redmen eventually took the lead at 50-48, but could not hold on.
Price led North Union with 18 points. Mason Soviak had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Harley Day finished with 10 points.
Evans topped Bucyrus with 18 points and Dick added 13. Kyle Hamm grabbed eight rebounds.
“This game scared me to death,” Terrill said. “It was sandwiched in among games with the top three teams in our league. We knew Bucyrus would play hard and for whatever reason, they play well against us. I am glad to get out of here with a win.”
“Definitely, the biggest takeaway is that we were down 10-0 to start and we chipped away,” Mattix said. “We found a way to shrink the gap.
“Also, Ryan being out in the second quarter shows we have other guys who can step up when our scorer is out,” he added. “But we still have a lot to shore up.”
North Union 56, Bucyrus 52
North Union 22 11 11 12 — 56
Bucyrus 11 13 17 11 — 52
Stats
North Union (7-7): Shots 21-45; 3-pt. shots 5-12 (Riley Price 3, Joel Krebehenne, Connor Terrill); Free throws 9-18; Rebounds 27 (Mason Soviak 10); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Connor Terrill 4 0 9, Joel Krebehenne 1 1 4, Preston Crabtree 0 4 4, Riley Price 7 1 18, Harley Day 4 2 10, Mason Soviak 5 1 11.
Bucyrus (2-11): Shots 20-45; 3-pt shots 6-15 (Ryan Evans 4, Gram Dick, Harley Robinson); Free throws 6-9; Rebounds 25 (Kyle Hamm 8); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Gram Dick 6 0 13, Harley Robinson 3 2 9, Ben Seibert 0 1 1, Ryan Evans 6 2 18, Dylan Goff 2 0 4, Kyle Hamm 3 1 7.
JV: North Union 48-43.