NEW WASHINGTON — With points coming at a premium all night, Buckeye Central coach Eric Picklesimer decided to turn up the pressure.
It worked like a charm.
Trailing 28-21 heading into the fourth period, BC shut out Ridgedale for the first 6:06 of the period and rallied to a 38-32 win.
The Bucks improved to 4-12 overall and 3-8 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. The Rockets fell to 9-10 overall and 5-9.
Neither team shot the ball well for the first three periods as the defenses took over.
But in the fourth period, the Bucks forced eight Ridgedale turnovers, which was one more than the Rockets turned the ball over in the first three periods combined.
“We dialed up pressure. Full-court, three-quarter court, we trapped, we ran and jumped, and we did a lot of different things to put some pressure on them,” Picklesimer said. “We wanted to do it earlier, but we have a limited bench and we would have run out of steam.
“We waited until the fourth to turn it on and the kids performed. When you hold that team to 32 points, that’s good,” Picklesimer added.
Ridgedale coach Nathon Loney said that when BC changed up defensively, his kids failed to respond.
“They went to that 1-3-1 and, if my senior point guard comes to play the way he did in the fourth period we can’t beat anyone,” Loney said.
“They went to that 1-3-1 and changed up the pressure and I think he had seven or eight turnovers by himself. When one player has that many turnovers, you can’t have that.
“We had control of the whole game until about three or four minutes left in the game. Right down the stretch we missed three or four layups that we should make.”
Trailing by seven entering the period, BC wing Darren Wurm canned a jumper and two free throws, before post Jake Heefner dropped two free throws. Wurm dropped a layup and Brady Biglin hit two free throws, giving the Bucks a 31-28 lead with 3:34 left.
After Wurm dropped a shot in the lane 17 seconds left, giving the Bucks a five-point lead, Ridgedale’s Clayton Lust finally broke the drought with a layup, cutting the BC lead to 33-30 with 1:54 left.
But from there, the Bucks hit five of six free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Picklesimer said that picking up the pace was crucial for his team.
“We put in a little sideline break there and we ran our posts down the middle to try and get them ahead a little,” Picklesimer said. “It was then or never. I told the kids going into the fourth, ‘we have eight minutes, give it everything you got.’”
Loney said that BC’s pressure was difficult for this team to handle.
“We had control of the whole game until about three or four minutes left in the game,” Loney said. “Right down the stretch we missed three or four layups that we should make.
“We played a lot faster in the first three quarters,” Loney added. “But then they went to that 1-3-1 zone. We tried to slow the ball down and be smart and not make turnovers and when you play like that, that’s when you commit the turnovers. We have to keep doing what we do. We have to keep playing fast, that’s our style. It didn’t show tonight.”
Biglin scored 13 points to pace the Bucks, but it was Wurm who came alive in the fourth period, scoring eight of his 11 points.
Adam Beard led the Rockets with 11 points, but Ridgedale made just 11 of 40 shots on the night. BC wasn’t much better, hitting just 10 of 35. But both coaches agreed that the Rockets came into the game shooting much better.
“We’ve been shooting the ball well for the last eight games and we had a bad shooting night and we continue to take 3s when we need to be patient, shoot five or six reversals and shoot an easy layup,” Loney said.
Picklesimer agreed.
“The last few games (Ridgedale has) really shot it well,” Picklesimer said. “And our guys came out and defended well for three quarters. We really didn’t make a lot of shots in the fourth period we just turned up the pressure and got some easy ones.”
Buckeye Central won the junior varsity game, 37-35. Alex Kanney led the Bucks with 13 and Zach Seiler added 10. Preston Long led Ridgedale with 14 points.
Box score
Buckeye Central 38, Ridgedale 32
Ridgedale 11 9 8 4 — 32
Buckeye Central 8 5 8 17 — 38
Stats
Ridgedale (9-10, 4-9 N10): Shots 11-40; 3-pt shots 6 (Adam Beard 3, Ashton Bigler, Sam Leach, Ashton Bigler, Connor Lust); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 20; Turnovers 15. Scoring: Clayton Lust 3 0 6, Sam Leach 1 0 3, Ashton Bigler 2 3 8, Adam Beard 4 0 11, Connor Lust 1 1 4.
Buckeye Central: (3-14, 2-10 N10): Shots 10-35; 3-pt. shots 3 (Brady Biglin 3); Free throws 15-19; Rebounds 32; Turnovers 17. Scoring: Tyler Rose 0 4 4, Brady Biglin 4 2 13, Brady Kerschner 0 1 1, Jake Heefner 2 3 7, Nick Ramey 0 2 2, Darren Wurm 4 3 11.
JV: Buckeye Central 37-35.