HOLMES TOWNSHIP — At halftime, Wynford held a 25-17 lead, but, more importantly, Buckeye Central guard Jack Phillips had zero points, missing all five of his shots.

It didn’t stay that way.

The junior exploded in the final two periods and overtime, hitting 10 of 18 shots, knocking down 26 points and leading a Buckeye Central charge that was unstoppable.

The Bucks overcame a 17-point Wynford lead late in the third period and tied the game at the end, sending it into overtime. In the OT, BC outscored the Royals 13-8 and came away with a big 67-62 win.

With the win, Buckeye improved to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, while Wynford, playing in its first game, fell to 0-1 overall.

The fact that the Bucks had a game under their belt before coming to face the young Royals could have made a difference, according to first-year Wynford coach Adam Guinther.

“It was a huge benefit,” Guinther said about BC having played a game. “We had Monroeville scheduled a week earlier and they moved that game; I haven’t had a scrimmage in two weeks either. This has been a tough period for us over the last week or so.

“It’s not necessarily the reason we lost but I do think it’s a factor,” he added.

Whether the Bucks played an extra game, it didn’t matter when Phillips got hot.

“We were running some iso stuff for (Phillips) and he was getting to the rim and knocking down threes all over the place,” Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer said. “That’s three years of varsity experience. Jack’s only a junior but he’s been playing varsity since he was a freshman.”

Phillips said that he had difficulty getting into the flow of the game early.

“In the first half, I was just never really able to get anything going,” Phillips said. “In the second half, I started with a layup. That was one make. I had a different approach; I just focused on second makes. I hit a shot and that was past, so I hit another one.”

Wynford held a 41-24 lead with a Jaxon Vance bucket, with just 2:31 left in the third period. The Royals built the lead on the backs of Vance and senior guard Wes Prenger. Prenger drilled seven threes and scored 27 points on the night, while Vance added 17 more.

But that’s when Phillips started to go off. The guard knocked down two threes and post Jeremiah Fishpaw added a basket as the Bucks cut the lead to 43-32, entering the final frame.

Phillips rained in another three to open the fourth period and Hunter Caudill got into the lane and dropped a layup, as BC quickly cut the deficit to 43-37.

Prenger knocked down two of his seven threes and Vance added a basket as the Royals seemed to retake control of the game, building a 51-39 lead with 5:40 left.

But BC was not going to be denied, scoring 12 straight points in a four-minute span to tie the game at 51-51. Phillips scored eight points in the run, while Caudill and Caydin Jarvis each added a bucket.

With 1:04 left in the game, Caudill split the Wynford defense and scored, giving the Bucks their first lead of the game at 53-51.

Prenger hit a three to give the Royals a 54-53 lead with 46 seconds left, before Buckeye’s Jeremiah Fishpaw hit one of two free throws with 21 seconds left, tying the game at 54-54 and sending it into overtime.

Wynford actually held a 62-61 lead with 1:14 left in the overtime on two free throws from freshman Drew Stanek, but the Bucks came storming back again.

Phillips scored on a layup and Jarvis followed his own miss with a basket with 21 seconds left as Buckeye held a 65-62 lead.

The Royals came down and failed to finish, as Caudill was fouled and hit two free throws with 5.8 seconds left to seal the win.

Moyer said that the reason his team came back was quite simple.

“We just started making shots.” Moyer said. “We missed a ton; we were 4 of 15 in the first half from two. We couldn’t make anything. We came out sluggish in the third and we got energy on the defensive end, and then we just started getting turnovers to get back in the game.”

In the first half, the Bucks made six of 23 shots but went 20 of 36 in the second half and overtime.

“At halftime, we weren’t expecting to be down as much as we were,” Phillips added. “We came into the locker room, and we knew we were okay. We knew we had to make plays to come back, but at the end of the day, people remember the wins and the losses, and we knew we were going to be all right.

“There were just possessions we had to make shots,” he added. “The game doesn’t go the way it does if we don’t make those shots. We don’t have any momentum. That was the first three quarters in a nutshell.”

BC placed four players in double figures. Caudill scored 14, Fishpaw 13 and Jarvis added 11.

Moyer said that his team never got down on themselves.

“We talk about it a lot,” Moyer said. “You’re gonna get punched in the mouth. You gotta answer. Don’t worry about it, keep fighting. A credit to them. They got the momentum and they seen it, and just played their (rear ends) off in the second half and in the fourth quarter.”

Guinther said that his young team got a little mentally tired in the second half.’

“(Phillips) is the one who landed shots,” Guinther said. “I’m not taking a single thing away from him; he’s the one who hit the shots, but I think three of those, for sure, we had missed assignments. We had a sub in and didn’t communicate and we were scrambling to get him.

“I told the kids to go over the screens or play tight on him and we went under a couple of times. It was just the sign of a young team.”

Wynford won the junior varsity game, 47-24.

Box score

Buckeye Central 67, Wynford 62 (OT)  

Buckeye Central   11       6     15      22     13— 67

Wynford                  18       7     18     11       8 — 62

Buckeye Central (2-0, 1-0 N10): Shots 26-59; 3-pt. shots 8 (Jack Phillips 6, Hunter Caudill, Alec Phillips); Free throws 7-12; Rebounds 31; Turnovers 10. Scoring: Alec Phillips 1 0 3, Hunter Caudill 5 3 14, Caydin Jarvis 5 1 11, Jeremiah Fishpaw 5 3 13, Jack Phillips 10 0 26.

Wynford (0-1, 0-1 N10): Shots 22-54; 3-pt. shots 9 (Wes Prenger 7, Drew Stanek, Jaron Vance); Free throws 9-11; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 15. Scoring: Drew Stanek 1 4 7, Wes Prenger 9 2 27, Jaron Vance 1 0 3, Jaxon Vance 8 1 17, Drew Johnson 3 2 8.

JV: Wynford 47-24.