BUCYRUS — It was senior night, the last time that Bucyrus seniors Lucas Kozinski, Zach Delaney and Skylar Lucio would play at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
The emotions seemed likely to rule the evening — until Buckeye Central showed up with fire hoses to douse the flames.
The Bucks broke open a 26-19 halftime lead with a 25-point third quarter and then cruised to a 71-44 North Central Conference victory.
For Buckeye Central, the win avenged a 59-56 loss to the Redmen in January.
“The first time around, I’m not going to say we played terrible, but we didn’t play really well,” Buckeye Central coach Eric Picklesimer said. “This time, we took advantage of our strengths and it was nice to see our guys be aggressive in that respect.”
The one glaring advantage the Bucks had was size, with a pair of 6-foot-4 posts in Jake Heefner and Brady Kerschner. The twosome combined for 15 rebounds — helping BC to a 39-22 bulge on the glass — and 31 points.
Ironically, the game was amazingly close statistically except for rebounds. Each team attempted 49 shots, each had 10 turnovers and they were within one of identical free throw attempts. Made shots — 30-15 in the Bucks’ favor — was the difference.
“Obviously, we didn’t shoot it very well, but at the same token, I don’t think we made them play defensively against us enough,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “I thought we squandered a really good opportunity in the first half. It’s very disappointing. I thought our effort was disappointing, our attitude was disappointing.”
The one bright spot for Bucyrus (2-18, 2-13 N10) was Kozinski, who scored the first 14 points of the game for the Redmen and finished with a game-high 27. It was enough to keep the hosts in the ball game, trailing 26-19 at halftime.
“We knew he was going to score, he’s a good player,” Picklesimer said of Kozinski. “We didn’t know he would score that much that early. So, we made an adjustment in the second half.”
The defensive adjustment had Damian Dean face guarding Kozinski, holding him to a more reasonable five points in the third quarter. No other Redmen was able to take up the scoring slack and the Bucks’ offense exploded for 25 points to put the game on ice, taking a 51-32 lead into the fourth quarter. Tyler Rose scored nine of his 12 points in the frame to lead the charge.
Egan expected more life from his team on both ends of the floor, especially on senior night.
“You certainly would have thought that,” Egan said. “But then again, this is a unique group. To give up as many layups as we give up because we have no desire to play at the defensive end is not only an indication of our effort, it’s downright embarrassing.”
Buckeye Central (3-17, 2-13) used a 20-12 edge in the fourth quarter to finish off the rout, despite eight more points from Kozinski.
“Our defense is what showed up today,” Picklesimer said. “I think we held them to 30 percent (15 of 49) shooting — four of 20-something (22) from downtown. Our defense did an exceptional job.”
The Bucks’ offense played off the defense well, hitting 30 of 49 shots with four players in double figures. Heefner led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Kerschner added 15 points and seven boards, Rose had 12 points and Aiden McDougal finished with 11.
Only four other Redmen scored in support of Kozinski’s 27. Mike Wise was next with six points and he also grabbed seven rebounds.
“There’s no excuse here,” Egan said. “We’re playing at home; we’re playing on senior night. Not to take away anything that Buckeye Central did but it’s not hard to make layups. They did a great job of just screening our guys. To me, if you are getting screened, you’re just in bad defensive position and there’s no excuse for that.”
“We shot a lot of stuff inside the paint and that’s where we needed to be,” Picklesimer said. “I think we only took four 3-point shots. Everything else was down low. When you score down there, usually good things happen.”
“This team is better than what they’ve shown all year,” Egan said. “Even when we’ve been beaten by a large differential, our kids haven’t quit. Tonight, we just seemed to be in quicksand the entire time.”
Bucyrus gained a split on the evening with a 45-34 win in the junior varsity game. Spencer Huff led the Redmen with a game-high 16 points and Kolton Middleton added 15. Casey Geissman had 13 for Buckeye Central and Logan Niese finished with nine.
Box score
Buckeye Central 13 13 25 20 — 71
Bucyrus 5 14 13 12 — 44
Buckeye Central (3-17, 2-13 N10): Shots 30-49; 3-pt. shots 3-5 (Tyler Rose 2, Alex Kanney); Free throws 8-15; Rebounds 39 (Jake Heefner 8); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Aiden McDougal 4 3 11, Tyler Rose 4 2 12, Logan Niese 1 2 4, Alex Kanney 2 0 5, Brady Kerschner 7 1 15, Jake Heefner 8 0 16, Damian Dean 1 0 2, Nick Ramey 3 0 6.
Bucyrus (2-18, 2-13 N10): Shots 15-49; 3-pt. shots 4-22 (Lucas Kozinski 3, Grady Jackson); Free throws 10-14; Rebounds 22 (Mike Wise 7); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Lucas Kozinski 10 4 27, Joe Rager 1 1 3, Mike Wise 1 4 6, Grady Jackson 1 0 3, Nick Middleton 2 1 5.
JV: Bucyrus 45-34.