By Dan Messerschmidt

HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Wynford may be heavy at the post position, but opponents should not be deceived into thinking the Royals’ guards cannot score.

Sophomore guard Josh Crall scored 30 points — including 10 in the pivotal fourth quarter — as the Royals pulled away from Bucyrus, 61-45, in a Northern 10 Conference game at W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium.

“It was a battle,” Wynford coach Jason Engel said. “The score does not reflect how close it was.”

Indeed, the Redmen were within four points, at 49-45, with just over three minutes left in the game and missed two free throws that could have cut the deficit to two.

Bucyrus (0-3, 0-1 N10) never scored again, however, and the Royals registered the final 12 points of the game to win going away.

It was the second such streak of the game and it was too much for the Redmen to overcome.

“We were up one with (three minutes) to go and they went on an 8-0 run to make it 29-22 at halftime,” Bucyrus coach Justin Mattix said. “Mistakes compound themselves. We do the same things over and over. We have some growing to do.”

Wynford (2-0, 1-0) kept the momentum going to start the second half, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the third quarter, to stretch the advantage to 37-24. The Royals still led 43-32 by period’s end.

“The run at the start of the half was huge,” Engel said. “It gave us a little bit of momentum. We made some sophomore mistakes but then Josh took over.”

The Redmen didn’t quit. Sophomore post Ben Seibert scored seven of his team-high 12 points in just over two minutes to start the final period to help get Bucyrus back to within four points. But the Redmen could get no closer.

“We’re not getting to the line, not because we’re not getting fouled, but because we are so off balance that the referees can’t see that we’re getting fouled,” Mattix said. “We need to step it up inside and shoot a higher percentage in the paint.”

Mattix’ reference was to the fact that the Royals shot 30 free throws — making only 12 of them — while Bucyrus made five of seven.

Caleb Rausch seconded Crall’s 30 with 11 points for Wynford. Cole Heinlen finished with 10 points and Matt McBride had nine rebounds.

“Besides Josh’s 30, we had other people step up,” Engel said. “We missed some layups and we need to shoot free throws better, but we won.”

Gram Dick had eight points in support of Seibert’s 12 for Bucyrus. Eight different Redmen scored. Seibert also grabbed 10 rebounds.

“Kade Slagle hit his first two threes tonight,” Mattix said. “He had only taken five shots in the first two games. We need to have other guys step up.”

“We won a hard battle with our rival,” Engel said. “Coach Mattix has his kids going in the right direction.”

Wynford also won the junior varsity game, 41-37. Khylee Davis had a game-high 16 points for the Royals and Toby Butterfield added 10.

Lucas Kozinski finished with 15 for Bucyrus, while Zach Delaney had nine.

Bucyrus             9    13    10    13 — 45

Wynford           9    20    14    18 — 61

Stats

Bucyrus (0-3, 0-1 N10): Shots 17-51; 3-pt 6-24 (Kade Slagle 2, Dylan Goff 2, Jaylen Zehner, Ben Seibert); Rebounds 32 (Seibert 10); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Gram Dick 4 0 8, Jaylen Zehner 1 0 3, Derek Heinlen 1 0 2, Ben Seibert 4 3 12, Ryan Evans 2 0 4, Kade Slagle 2 0 6. Dylan Goff 2 0 6, Kyle Hamm 1 2 4.

Wynford (2-0, 1-0 N10): Shots 23-55; 3-pt. 3-12 (Josh Crall 3); Rebounds 42 (Matt McBride 9); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Matt McBride 0 1 1, Cole Heinlen 4 2 10, Josh Crall 11 5 30, Ryan Stevely 1 0 2, Gavin Leffler 0 3 3, Kevan Hughett 2 0 4, Caleb Rausch 5 1 11.

JV: Wynford 41-37.