HOLMES TOWNSHIP — When rivals face each other, league and season wins are immaterial. But when both are looking for the first win of the season, the atmosphere is even more tense.
Bucyrus entered W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium winless in three games. Host Wynford had the same record.
The Redmen built a six-point lead at halftime, but the Royals got 39 points from Josh Crall — 25 in the second half — and used a 27-point third quarter to rally past Bucyrus, 69-61, in a boys’ Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
“It feels good, obviously, and for the first time in three games, we handled last-minute situations well,” Wynford coach Steve Mohr said. “We’ve lost three games we could have won if we had handled late-game situations. And we did it at the defensive end tonight.”
The Redmen grabbed a 14-10 lead after one quarter and eased out to a 33-27 halftime advantage on the strength of Haley Robinson-Koge’s 20 points. Bucyrus (0-4, 0-2 N10) five of 10 3-point shots to turn the trick.
“We did a really good job against their zones, their 1-2-2 and their box-and-one,” Bucyrus coach Justin Mattix said. “Our other guys made some shots in the first half and (Wynford) came out in the second quarter in a man (defense).”
The turning point came in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Wynford (1-3, 1-1) went on a 12-4 run over the first three minutes to seize the lead for the first time at 39-37. The Redmen never led again.
The Royals got the lead to 54-47 by period’s end but could never shake Bucyrus. Wynford’s biggest lead was eight points several times throughout including the final score.
“You have to give Bucyrus a lot of credit,” Mohr said. “They played with a lot of confidence. They had kids shooting and making 3s that we didn’t anticipate happening. To our kid’s credit, we stayed disciplined, we stayed patient and made the plays necessary to win the game.”
Crall made a living at the free throw line, connecting on 21 of a whopping 24 attempts. Wynford ended the game with 40 free throw tries compared to 10 for the Redmen.
“He’s a really good player,” Mattix said of Crall. “He’s the best offensive player who can just create his own shot in the league. He can draw fouls, he can shoot the 3 and he can get to the lane whenever the heck he wants to.”
Gunnar Coffman was the only other Wynford player in double figures with 11 points. Toby Butterfield pulled down 10 rebounds.
Robinson-Koge finished with 28 points to lead the Redmen. Jaylen Zehner added 13 points and Kyle Hamm had eight rebounds.
“My biggest fear coming in was that Harley Robinson (Koge) would go off and he went off early and we had no answer for it,” Mohr said. “Isaac Sterrett did an outstanding job on him in the second half. He did a great job in keeping him under control.”
“We absolutely cannot play in the 60s or 70s,” Mattix said. “We’re not that type of team. In the Ridgedale game, we went off for 27 points in the second quarter. We can do that, but they went off for 23. It really doesn’t matter if you can score points if the other team is scoring too.”
“We knew we were going to get their best shot because it’s Bucyrus-Wynford,” Mohr said. “They gave us their best shot and we withstood it.”
“We had a really disappointed locker room, which is not good to see,” Mattix said. “You never want to see the kids disappointed. But it’s a nice sight when you go in there and see kids hanging their heads because you knew they really wanted this game.”
Wynford also won the junior varsity game, 50-49. Khylee Davis had a game-high 19 points for the Royals and Dustin Brady added 12.
Tod Spurlock and Jacob Carr had 13 each for Bucyrus.
Bucyrus 14 19 14 14 — 61
Wynford 10 17 27 15 — 69
Bucyrus: (0-4, 0-2 N10): Shots 24-55; 3-pt. shots 7-15 (Dylan Goff 2, Nic Middleton 2, Harley Robinson-Koge 2, Kenton Lutz); Free throws 6-10; Rebounds 29 (Kyle Hamm 8); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Jaylen Zehner 6 1 13, Kenton Lutz 2 0 5, Nic Middleton 2 0 6, Harley Robinson-Koge 11 4 28, Dylan Goff 2 0 6, Kyle Hamm 1 1 3.
Wynford: (1-3, 1-1 N10): Shots 20-53; 3-pt. shots 2-13 (Matt McBride 2); Free throws 27-40; Rebounds 41 (Toby Butterfield 10); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Brock Noblit 0 3 3, Matt McBride 2 1 7, Gunnar Coffman 5 1 11, Isaac Sterrett 1 0 2, Josh Crall 9 21 39, Toby Butterfield 2 1 5, Gavin Leffler 1 0 2.
JV: Wynford 50-49.