BUCYRUS — The planets aligned at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium to make the night historic.

Three new members — Bill Elder, Tom Roberts, and Nate Winkelfoos — were inducted into the Bucyrus Hall of Fame, the Redmen ended an eight-game losing streak, and Malachi Bayless set a new single-game scoring record.

Whew!

The result was a 68-57 win over Buckeye Central in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.

Bayless established the record with 45 points, which were almost equally distributed over the four quarters. It broke the old mark of 44 points, which Bayless scored against Galion last year, tying with legendary Jim Kirkham for the honor at the time.

Scoring records were not the goal as the game progressed. It wasn’t until late, with the game still hanging in the balance, that Bayless thought the record was within reach.

“It (the record) was less than 10 (away) with 3-4 minutes left,” Bayless said. “I’m like, ‘I could actually do this.’ I didn’t mean to, in all honesty. I just came out hot.”

The 38th point came with 3:35 left in the game to put Bucyrus (2-8, 1-6 N10) up 59-45. The Bucks had cut a Redmen lead that had ballooned to 38-17 early in the third quarter down to as close as eight, at 51-43 on a basket by Hunter Caudill with 6:24 to go.

“(Malachi) got to 38 and that was all him. It wasn’t a strategic effort to break a record,” Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis said. “He got to 40 and the game was closer than it should have been, so they’re fouling. I’m just happy for him.”

It’s not as though Buckeye Central was unaware of Bayless’ potential to go on a scoring binge. He came into the game as the second leading scorer in the N10 and had tied the school record with 44 a year ago.

“Malachi had a special night,” Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer said. “The kid’s a player. Obviously, our scouting report’s all around him. It’s not a surprise by any means. We just need to understand that when you face a player of that caliber, it takes all five to guard him.”

The Bucks knew what they might be in for in the first quarter. The Redmen jumped out to a 14-4 lead with Bayless accounting for 10. Buckeye Central didn’t help its own cause by going one for 12 from the field.

“One of our things was to have a lot of patience and make them guard and we didn’t have a lot of patience early,” Moyer said. “We turned the ball over early and that’s part of dealing with youth. They came out and pressured us a little bit. We got sped up and made some bad decisions.”

The Bucks turned the ball over five times in the opening period, 17 for the game.

Bucyrus expanded its lead to 32-17 at halftime despite BC’s hitting three 3-point shots in the frame. Bayless more than offset that with 15 points for the Redmen.

Both coaches felt the teams were very similar in makeup.

“We thought Buckeye was a good matchup for us,” Hargis said. “Our main goal was to speed them up, try to get out in transition. Malachi was hitting early. That opened up some driving lanes for the rest of the guys.”

Noah Burke finished with 10 points despite fighting some early foul trouble. Demarius Munn-Page added eight points and Jackson Farrar grabbed 12 rebounds. Bayless had nine boards to his record setting 45 points.

To their credit, the Bucks made a game of it after going down 21 in the third quarter. They hit eight of 10 shots from the field, with six different players scoring. Heath Jensen had all seven of his points in the period.

Buckeye Central (3-8, 0-7) trimmed the deficit to 48-38 by period’s end but could get no closer than eight in the final quarter.

“We weren’t physical, and Malachi showed what happens when you’re not physical with him a little bit,” Moyer said. “He hit some big shots, too. I’m not going to criticize our kids too much.

“It’s tough to overcome (the deficit) when every time we would make a run, Malachi had an answer.”

Caudill led the Bucks with 15 points while Devin Siefert and Jack Phillips finished with nine each. Phillips added eight rebounds.

“Basketball’s a little more fun when you get extra shots at the rim, especially after an eight-game skid,” Hargis said. “It’s good to get any win, no matter who it is. I’m proud of the boys the way they stuck together during the eight-game skid.”

The Redmen won the battle of the boards, 40-34, including 15 offensive rebounds. Hargis noted that it was probably the only time this year they had won the rebounding battle.

Moyer was pleased with the way his team came back.

“I don’t believe in moral victories, but I did start the conversation with the kids, I was proud of them that we battled back in the second half, and we competed,” Moyer said. “If we had competed like that for four quarters, I feel like the game would have been coming down to the wire.”

Hargis liked his team’s defensive intensity for most of the game.

“Malachi talked all week that he was going to ‘D’ up Phillips, and defense gives you energy,” Hargis said. “You’re more dialed in and it translates to the rest of your game.”

Bucyrus also won the junior varsity game, 29-21.

Box score

Buckeye Central       5       12       21      19 — 57

Bucyrus                       14      18       16      20 — 68

Stats

Buckeye Central (3-8, 0-7 N10): Shots 20-51; 3-pt. shots 8-19 (Hunter Caudill 2, Devin Siefert 2, Cade Daniel 2, Jack Phillips); Free throws 16-30; Rebounds 40 (Jack Phillips 8); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Hunter Caudill 7 1 15, Heath Jensen 3 0 7, Devin Siefert 2 3 9, Cade Daniel 2 0 6, Jeremiah Fishpaw 2 3 7, Jack Phillips 3 2 9, Matthew Heefner 2 0 4.

Bucyrus (2-8, 1-6 N10): Shots 23-58; 3-pt. shots 6-19 (Malachi Bayless 5, Georgie Floyd); Free throws 16-30; Rebounds 40 (Jackson Farrar 12); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Georgie Floyd 2 0 5, Demarius Munn-Page 3 2 8, Noah Burke 4 2 10, Malachi Bayless 14 12 45.

JV: Bucyrus 29-21.