BUCYRUS — A day after LeBron James broke the career scoring record in the NBA, another iconic record — of somewhat less notoriety — was tied at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.

Redman junior Malachi Bayless scored 44 points, but amazingly, it was not enough. The visiting Galion Tigers put three players in double figures to roar past the Redmen, 86-66, in fast-paced non-league, county rivalry, game.

Bayless tied the single-game Bucyrus scoring record held for 57 years by the legendary Jim Kirkham. Bayless is the only other Redman to score 40 or more in a game.

Bayless has a sense of the school’s scoring history.

“I knew a little bit. At the same time, I wasn’t sure what (the record) was,” Bayless said. “I wasn’t sure if it was 42 or something a little bit higher than that. I’ve been checking the leader board for a while. I knew it was in the 40s.”

While not happy with the loss, Bucyrus coach Scott Gifford was ecstatic for his junior sharpshooter.

“I’m obviously very happy for Malachi. He deserves it,” Gifford said. “The kid comes out every night. They double him, trap him, do everything they can to stop him) and he performs. He’s worthy of all-district and maybe all-state.”

The pace of the game lent itself to a record-tying performance. Galion (7-12) got off to a relatively slow start (6 of 20 from the field) which allowed Bucyrus (4-15) to take a 17-16 after one period.

From there, however, the Tigers’ shooting was lights out. They finished the game 33 of 75 from the field — 14 of 27 from 3-point range.

“It took us a little while to get going, but once we figured it out, we were able to go,” Galion coach Ryan Stover said. “It was a tremendous team effort tonight, top to bottom. Everybody got to play.”

Stover got a monster performance of his own from Elijah Chafin, who led Galion with 30 points. Cooper Kent gave solid support with 22 points. But to Stover’s point about team effort, nine different Tigers scored.

Galion used a 20-9 advantage in the second quarter to take a 36-26 lead to the halftime locker room.

Bucyrus made a mini-run to start the third quarter, closing to within seven, at 38-31, on a 3 by Bayless with 6:54 left in the frame. But, Kent answered seconds later on the other end with a 3 that started a 17-9 run to period’s end and resulted in a 62-40 Tigers’ lead after three.

“I’ll give Galion credit. They hit their shots,” Gifford said. “If they don’t hit those shots (at such a high percentage), with our transition — a completely different game. But you’ve got to tip your hat. They hit their shots. It was a 3-point clinic. So, kudos to them for that.”

Defensively, Galion forced 20 Bucyrus turnovers and the Tigers also had a 14-5 edge on offensive rebounds. Combined, that allowed Galion to have a 75-53 bulge in shot attempts.

“I thought our defense was pretty good,” Stover said. “We got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter. We let Malachi get hot in the fourth quarter. He’s a tremendous shooter. He did a great job tonight. Outside of that, we sped them up, we were able to speed them up and force a lot of turnovers.”

Bayless scored 21 of his 44 in the final period as the Redmen chipped two points off the deficit by edging the visitors 26-24 over the final eight minutes. Bayless would have had an opportunity to break the record, as he was fouled just before the final buzzer, but the officials did not allow him to shoot the free throws.

“We watched the film,” Bayless said. “We knew they were going to get their points. So, it sucks that we didn’t shut them down like we wanted to, but it’s hard to shut down shooters like that.

“When I looked up at the board, it was three guys (in double figures for them). That’s hard to beat. You know they are fundamentally sound with good chemistry.”

Jackson Hart was the other Tiger in double figures with 12 in support of Chafin and Kent. Hart also led with eight rebounds.

“We spread the ball around really well,” Stover said. “Elijah Chafin and Cooper Kent did most of our scoring. We also had role players like Jack Hart, Nate McMullen, Steven Glew, and Seth Staiger, and Quinn Miller hit a couple (3s) late in the game.”

Randy Banks was the next highest scorer for Bucyrus with five points, though eight Redmen did have points. Noah Burke grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

“We’re so used to turning it over, 20 turnovers is nothing,” Gifford said. “That doesn’t even bother me anymore. It’s the way (Galion) shot the ball, that’s what it was. When you shoot the ball like that, if you miss, you get long rebounds and with our transition, we can score off that. But when they hit 3s, they can get in their press. That creates turnovers.”

But the story of the night historically was Bayless’ etching his name into Bucyrus lore. He’s hoping he can help his team — and the program — to more wins.

“It feels good,” Bayless said of the single-game record. “I already set some freshmen records. So, I just want to show my little cousins in elementary school that time and dedication pay off.”

Galion made it a sweep by winning the junior varsity game, 44-36. Kael Longwell led the Tigers 16 points. Dylan Copper had eight for Bucyrus.

Box score

Galion        16      20        26      24 — 86

Bucyrus     17        9        14      26 — 66

Stats

Bucyrus (4-15): Shots 27-53; 3-pt. shots 9-18 (Malachi Bayless 8, Kam Lewis); Free throws 3-5; Rebounds 30 (Noah Burke 16); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Kam Lewis 1 0 3, Noah Burke 1 0 2, Jackson Farrar 1 0 2, Kavan Combs 2 0 4, Dylan Coppler 2 0 4, Malachi Bayless 17 2 44, Brock Frost 1 0 2, Randy Banks 2 1 5.

Galion (7-12): Shots 33-75; 3-pt. shots 14-27 (Elijah Chafin 6, Cooper Kent 4, Jackson Hart 2, Quinn Miller 2); Free throws 5-7; Rebounds 34 (Jackson Hart 8); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Coen Fuson 2 0 4, Elijah Chafin 11 2 30, Jackson Hart 4 2 12, Steven Glew 2 0 4, Cooper Kent 8 2 22, Brice Sherman 1 0 2, Seth Staiger 1 0 2, Quinn Miller 2 0 6, Nick McMullen 2 0 4.

JV: Galion 44-36.