NEW WASHINGTON (Crawford County Now) — According to Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer, it was a win his Bucks sorely needed.
The Bucks were coming off a 56-44 loss to Bucyrus just two days ago, and Moyer said that getting a win Saturday night against Wynford was important for his team.
“It was a good one, especially after Bucyrus the other night,” Moyer said. “That was a game we felt we could win. We didn’t shoot the ball well and credit Bucyrus; they outplayed us.”
That was not a problem against the Royals. The Bucks made 23 of 38 floor attempts — 61 percent — and built a 32-18 lead at the half.
The Royals came storming back in the third period, scoring the final 10 points of the frame to cut the lead to 39-37, entering the final period. Wynford actually took a 42-41 lead with 4:23 left in the game on a Weston Prenger free throw.
That was the last points the Royals scored in the game.
BC regrouped quickly and scored the final 13 points of the game, coming away with a 54-42 win.
With the win, the Bucks improved to 6-7 overall, 3-6 in the Northern 10 Conference. Wynford fell to 1-11 overall, 1-8 in the league.
Wynford coach Adam Guinther said he was pleased with the way his team responded in the second half.
Guinther said that his top player, Prenger was under the weather before the game, but he still played the entire game.
“We talked at halftime, our goal was to get within six after three,” Guinther said. “We kinda exceeded what we talked about a little bit. We wanted to faceguard (Caydin) Jarvis and (Jack) Phillips a little bit so they couldn’t see the ball and get to the rim as much.
“The kids worked their butts off. It was like, we climbed the hill and got to the top, and we just started to get over and we ran out of gas.”
“We talked a lot about adversity, about coming back and about not dwelling about the past,” Moyer said of his team. “It’s one game at a time going forward and I thought the kids did a really good job of that. Especially tonight. We had a 14-point lead at halftime, and they had a (42-41) lead. We refocused and were able to come out on top.”
Once Wynford got the lead midway through the fourth, it appeared the Royals had all the momentum.
But BC responded quickly. Matthew Heefner scored on a layup off a pass from Phillips, who was laying on his back at the time. The ball came to him on the baseline, and he quickly hit Heefner under the basket.
From there, Phillips hit a running jumper and Jarvis scored on a layup and the Bucks grabbed a 47-42 lead with 2:26 left in the game.
“I think when they scored and made it 47-42 at that point, I think we were in a little bit of trouble,” Guinther said. “That five points seemed like so much after we were down 14 and fighting back.”
Jarvis added a three and Phillips scored the final four points of the game to seal it.
Moyer felt that his team’s ability to take care of the basketball down the stretch was the difference.
“We were turning it over in droves there during their run, and getting impatient offensively, which has been a problem for us all year,” Moyer said. “I thought we got the looks that we wanted and the people taking the shots that we wanted.”
Jarvis led the Bucks with 20 points and Phillips added 14 more.
“Caydin gave us some offensive spark there,” Moyer said. “He does a very good job on the offensive boards. He’s athletic enough to wiggle around in there and made some good buckets.”
Drew Johnson led the Royals with 14 points and Prenger, despite being ill before the game, finished with 13. Jaxon Vance had 11 more.
“Drew Johnson kept us in the game in the first half; we had 18 in the first half, and I think he had 10 of them,” Guinther said. “We got tired a little bit after fighting back and our decision-making was not as good. We started taking some bad shots.
“I’m very proud of our kids,” he added. “I told them I was as proud tonight of them as I have been. They could have folded up like a lawn chair and they came right back and worked hard in that third quarter and really in the fourth, so I was really proud of them.”
Box score
Wynford 9 9 19 5 — 42
Buckeye Central 18 14 7 15 — 54
Wynford (1-11, 1-8 N10): Shots 18-49; 3-pt. shots 5 (Drew Johnson 2, Jaxon Vance, Wes Prenger, Dawson Pelter); Free throws 3-6; Rebounds 11; Turnovers 7. Scoring: Dawson Pelter 1 0 3, Wes Prenger 5 2 13, Hunter Routson 0 1 1, Jaxon Vance 5 0 11, Drew Johnson 6 0 14.
Buckeye Central (6-7, 3-6 N10): Shots 23-38; 3-pt. shots 4 (Jack Phillips 2, Caydin Jarvis, Hunter Caudill); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 29; Turnovers 11. Scoring: Hunter Caudill 1 1 4, Caydin Jarvis 9 1 20, Lane Caudill 1 0 2, Jeremiah Fishpaw 4 0 8, Jack Phillips 5 2 14, Matthew Heefner 3 0 6.