NEW WASHINGTON — According to Mohawk coach Paul Dunn, his team received a teachable moment Saturday night.
Dunn’s Warriors played a brilliant 12 minutes in the first half, taking a 22-10 lead at Buckeye Central. But he watched as the Bucks limited his team to just 11 second-half points.
Mohawk held a 43-42 lead with 1:27 left in the game, and BC had four chances to take the lead, including getting a final shot and a tip chance with three seconds left.
But Mohawk held on for the one-point win Saturday night.
With the win, Mohawk improved to 2-0 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, 2-1 overall. Buckeye Central is 0-2 in the conference, 1-3 overall.
Dunn said that his team wasn’t ready to play in the second half.
“Credit to them for coming out and executing,” Dunn said. “I thought our guys weren’t ready to play in the second half. I thought that we played a great first quarter, a great couple of minutes in the second quarter but we kinda got away from what we were doing that got us that 10-12-point lead.
“At halftime, we challenged our guys to come out and get back to what we were doing, and I don’t think we did that,” Dunn added.
BC controlled the game in the second half, limiting the veteran Warriors to just six points in the third period and five in the fourth while scoring 24 of their own.
Bucks’ guard Alex Kanney led the BC charge, hitting two 3-point shots, scoring eight points in the final frame.
“(BC) made some jump shots,” Dunn said. “(Kanney) he killed us there and made some contested shots when we went to man. It’s kind of a deflated feeling coming in knowing how close we were to losing that game, our kids can learn from that, at least.”
Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell felt that his team’s defense led the charge in the second half.
“We started to play defense,” Howell said. “In the first half, I thought we struggled defensively, especially in the first quarter. But in the second half, we knew what we had to do to get back in this game. When they were on the offensive end, we had to get stops. Then we could see what we needed to do on the offensive end.”
In that last 1:27, the Bucks had four possessions and turned the ball over three times. The Warriors helped by missing three free throws, setting up the final possession of the game.
On that final play, BC guard Tyler Rose had a look at the free-throw line extended but the ball rolled around the rim and off.
“We’re not a dominant man team,” Dunn said. “We’re simply a zone team so when we have to go man, that shows you we were kinda reeling there. We switched it up and we were able to grind out those last three or four possessions. We weren’t making free throws and those are guys who will make those for us.
“We had to get stops on defense and I’m proud of the kids for, at least, buckling down and getting stops late,” he added.
Howell said he was pleased with this team’s ability to get back in the game in the final two frames.
“Don’t hang your heads, we’re getting there,” Howell said he told his team. “We’re almost not where we want to be but we’re taking strides to get there. That’s the biggest thing.”
Kanney led the Bucks with 16 points and Damien Dean added eight.
“The first thing is the effort,” Howell added. “I think we’re playing pretty hard and we’re rebounding well. We’re not very big; we rebound well for our size and you have to play defense first.”
Guard Austin Tusing scored all 11 of his points in the first half for Mohawk. Trey Combs came off the bench and hit four 3s for 12 points.
“I told the kids, the N10 is just a tough league,” Dunn said. “Buckeye is always a tough team. They have hard-working kids, and the coaching staff is going to put them in the right positions. We have to be able to handle that and I’m proud of the kids for sticking with it. This is something we will learn from and get better from.”
Mohawk won the junior varsity game, 41-30. Nathan Geary led Mohawk with 16 points and Drew Rose topped Buckeye with 12 points.
Box score
Mohawk 20 12 6 5 — 43
Buckeye Central 10 9 10 13 — 42
Mohawk (2-1, 2-0 N10): Shots 15-56; 3-pt. shots 5 (Trey Combs 4, Austin Tusing); Free throws 8-15; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 7. Scoring: Tyler Hayman 3 2 8, Austin Tusing 4 2 11, Landon Snyder 1 1 3, Bryce Lange 3 2 8, A.J. Hess 0 1 1, Trey Combs 4 0 12.
Buckeye Central (0-2, 1-3 N10): Shots 15-39; 3-pt. shots 5 (Alex Kanney 4, Aiden McDougal); Free throws 7-10; Rebounds 35; Turnovers 21. Scoring: Casey Geissman 1 5 7, Aiden McDougal 2 0 5, Alex Kanney 6 0 16, Tyler Sanderson 1 0 2, Brady Kerschner 2 0 4, Damian Dean 3 2 8.
JV: Mohawk 41-30.