HOLMES TOWNSHIP — By his own admission, Jordan Fenner struggled in the first half Saturday night against Wynford.
And the rest of the team struggled as well.
“We were definitely pressing,” Fenner said. “Things weren’t going and (Wynford) got some stuff going for them. We just had to get to halftime and relax a little bit. And we got it going in the second half.”
That may be the understatement of the season.
Wynford led by 13, 18-5, with 3:15 left in the first half and held a 22-11 lead at the break.
But, then, as Fenner said, his Colonel Crawford Eagles got it going in the second half.
The Eagles went on a 20-0 run in the third period and took a 31-21 lead late in the period en route to a 44-33 win over the Royals.
The win was the 10th straight for the Eagles, who improved to 12-3 overall, 8-3 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. Crawford stayed two games behind league-leading Mohawk.
Fenner was certainly one of the reasons. The Crawford junior scored four points and committed five turnovers in the first half, but he led the Eagles with 18 points on the night. Sophomore post Chase Walker added 12 points and 14 rebounds.
“We’ve been playing pretty well,” Fenner added. “That’s probably our worst first half of the season. I knew we would keep it together and get it going in the second half.”
After a four for 21 shooting first half, the Eagles, paced by Fenner, were much better in the final two frames, hitting 14 of 25 shots (56 percent).
“We were sloppy in the first half, had eight to 10 turnovers,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “Wynford came out and played good man defense and we didn’t shoot it real well. And I said ‘guys, don’t panic. We’re down 10 points, we have to come out and play one possession at a time and just crawl back in this.’
“This is a veteran group here,” Sheldon added. “They have played a lot of games. We just had a bad half of basketball, credit Wynford for that, but then I was proud of our guys. When you have that kind of adversity, you can tank it or battle back. We battled back and that’s a credit to our guys.”
Despite the Eagles’ offensive outburst in the third period, the Royals still had an opportunity in the final period, cutting the Colonel Crawford lead to 35-30 with 6:50 left in the game on a Caleb Rausch free throw.
But the Royals managed just a Josh Crall three the rest of the way.
Wynford coach Steve Mohr said that his team had chances to win the game, the Royals just didn’t put the ball in the hole.
“We got shots. We got the ball where we wanted to,” Mohr said. “We just didn’t convert. And against a team like that, you got to convert. You get scoring opportunities you have to convert, and we just didn’t.
“The name of the game is putting the ball in the hole.”
Mohr said that his team played with a lot of intensity but Fenner was just too much in the second half.
“Defensively we broke down,” Mohr said. “Fenner took over and he is as good as anyone in the league in pulling up, hitting shots, taking the ball to the rim. He took control of the basketball game.”
Crall, who leads the N10 in scoring, led all scorers with 23 points but he was eight of 27 from the floor. The remainder of the Wynford team scored just 10 total points.
“I thought we did a great job on Josh Crall,” Sheldon said. “He’s a great player and he scored 23 but he shot it 27 times. We contested. He was three of 13 from three and five of 14 from twos. And he only got to the free throw line five times.
“He’s a volume shooter,” Sheldon added. “And we did a great job on him all night. Sure, he got 23 but when he shoots ito 27 times, I’m proud of our guys of making him shoot contested shots. And he’s a good player.”
Mohr said that his team plays everyone tough but don’t have the results that he expects.
“I told our kids that we’re good enough to scare people, to scare the good teams,” Mohr said. “Right now, we’re just not good enough to beat those teams. We’re getting closer, we’re just not there yet. And that’s the reality of us right now. We’ve made great strides since the first half of the season. But the last thing we believe here in Wynford is moral victories and we look at this one as one we let slip away.
“Credit to Colonel Crawford, they play in big games like this and I think their experience and their belief in what they’re doing carried them through. But we’re coming.”
On the night, the Royals made just 11 of 48 shots from the floor, something that pleased Sheldon.
“We were able to hold them to one shot,” Sheldon said. “We were able to get rebounds and we were able to get out in transition. Chase Walker, once again, and he did a great job of using his motor and getting us second shots. He was relentless. That’s a credit to our guys.”
Mohr said that his team will bounce back when they hit the hardwood again Monday night at Bucyrus.
“The great thing about sports is that you always get another opportunity and 48 hours from now we get to travel down the road and play again,” Mohr said.
Box score
Colonel Crawford 44, Wynford 33
Colonel Crawford 4 7 22 11 — 44
Wynford 11 10 6 6 — 33
Stats
Colonel Crawford (12-3, 8-3 N10): Shots 18-46; 3-pt shots 1 (Jordan Fenner); Free throws 7-11; Rebounds 36; Turnovers 14. Scoring: Reis Walker 2 0 4, Jordan Fenner 8 1 18, Zye Shipman 2 0 4, Mason Studer 1 0 2, Gavin Feichtner 1 2 4, Chase Walker 4 4 12.
Wynford (4-11, 4-7 N10): Shots 11-48; 3-pt. shots 5 (Josh Crall 3, Brock Noblet, Khylee Davis); Free throws 6-11; Rebounds 26; Turnovers 8. Scoring: Brock Noblet 2 0 5, Khylee Davis 1 0 3, Josh Crall 8 4 23, Caleb Rausch 0 2 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 41-33.