NEW WASHINGTON — Teams that make just eight of 23 shots from the free throw line and fail to make a field goal in the fourth quarter usually don’t win the game.
But that wasn’t the case for Buckeye Central Thursday night.
Despite their free throw shooting woes, the Bucks grabbed the lead early against New Riegel and held it most of the second half, making plays whenever the Blue Jackets appeared to be on the verge of taking the lead.
Buckeye (5-9) used outstanding defense in the second half and edged New Riegel, 38-35. The Blue Jackets fell to 8-5 on the season.
It was just a matter of the Bucks making plays in key moments.
“We got the ball in the right people’s hands when we needed to,” Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell said. “(New Riegel is) a strong, physical team and they got the skill players out there. I thought we really did a good job on defense; we did a good job of taking some things away and withstood the runs.
“They were going to go on runs,” Howell said. “We told the kids at halftime, ‘When we come out in the third quarter, we’re going to do the pregame warmup.’ I don’t know what it is, but when we come out in the third quarter, we don’t know what we’re doing.”
Buckeye held a 9-7 lead in the first quarter, even though the Blue Jackets grabbed 14 rebounds in the quarter, 10 on the offensive end. BC led, 21-12 midway through the second quarter on a Trevor Kirgis basket and still had a 23-15 lead at the half.
“I don’t think we came out with real good energy early,” New Riegel coach Dave Losey said. “We definitely played Buckeye’s pace. We did start playing fast and we didn’t hit shots. I don’t know if that’s a culmination of the energy and focus that didn’t carry over from the first half. I don’t know what we shot but I can tell you it wasn’t good.”
New Riegel came storming back in the third period, tying the game at 25-25 on a Brady Hohman 3-point shot with 2:03 left in the frame.
But the Bucks’ Tyler Sanderson scored in the lane, Dom Dean had a layup and Manny Mullins added a layup as the Bucks held a 31-27 lead entering the fourth period.
Buckeye grabbed a 34-29 lead early in the final frame on two Sanderson free throws before the Blue Jackets came back to tie game at 35-35 on a Hakyhm Kauffman basket with 2:04 left.
Sanderson came back with a free throw with 1:32 left before hitting another free throw with 42 seconds left, giving the Bucks a 37-35 advantage.
The Blue Jackets turned the ball over twice in the final 12.2 seconds and missed a 3 at the buzzer as BC came away with the win.
Losey said that his defense kept the Blue Jackets in the game.
“A lot of energy with our full court press,” Losey said. “Turn them up, try and create some things because we weren’t scoring offensively. I thought we created a lot of opportunities. But it wasn’t our night.”
Sanderson led the Bucks with 14 points and Mullins knocked down three 3s for his 11 points.
Kauffman led the Blue Jackets with 12 points and Mathew Flores scored 10.
Howell said that defense was a factor for his team as well.
“We tried to do some different things,” Howell said. “We were small on the floor, and we had some guys step up big time and make some defensive plays.
“I thought we got some big rebounds,” Howell added. “In the first quarter, they had 10 offensive rebounds. In the second quarter, they had only two. I think that was huge. Second chance points, if you give them that many chances to shoot, they’re going to make it. I thought that was big.”
New Riegel won the junior varsity game, 39-26. Carter Clouse scored 16 for the Blue Jackets. Braden Siefert scored five for the Bucks.
New Riegel (8-5): Shots 12-48; 3-pt. shots 3 (Hakyhm Kauffman 2, Brady Hohman); Free throws 8-14; Rebounds 31; Turnovers 13. Scoring: Carson Pahl 1 1 3, Hakyhm Kauffman 5 0 12, Brady Hohman 1 0 3, Mathew Flores 3 4 10, Shane Jones 1 0 2, Reese Gosha 1 3 5.
Buckeye Central (5-9): Shots 13-32; 3-pt. shots 4 (Manny Mullins 3, Heath Jensen); Free throws 8-23; Rebounds 28; Turnovers 13. Scoring: Heath Jensen 1 0 3, Trevor Kirgis 2 0 4, Tyler Sanderson 4 6 14, Dom Dean 1 0 2, Jack Phillips 1 2 4, Manny Mullins 4 0 11.
JV: New Riegel 39-26.