NEW WASHINGTON — The timing was different, but the overall result was the same for Bucyrus.
The Redmen have been plagued by slow starts recently. But against Buckeye Central, it was a lull in the middle two quarters that caused the problem.
Bucyrus scored just eight points in the second and third quarters combined, resulting in a 16-point deficit. A furious rally in the fourth got them close but fell short in a 43-39 loss to the Bucks in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference regular season finale.
A dismal three of 13 shooting performance from the floor in the middle quarters proved to be the Redmen’s ultimate undoing.
“Maybe in Haiti, that’s good,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan quipped of the off-shooting quarters. “That’s been an Achilles’ heel for us all year. We get good shots. We just don’t make them.”
Things looked good early on for Bucyrus (4-18, 2-14 N10). The Redmen hit six of 10 shots and took a 13-11 lead at period’s end. But the power went out in the second period, as Bucyrus connected on one of only six shots.
Buckeye Central (9-13, 6-10) took advantage. The Bucks, though not dynamic, outscored the visitors 8-3 in the frame to go to the halftime locker room with a 19-16 lead.
“Our defense played pretty well all night,” Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell said. “You’re always going to get beat sometimes because that’s what happens in basketball. I thought for the night we played pretty good defense.”
But it was the third quarter that really dug the hole for the Redmen. Two for seven shooting by Bucyrus allowed Buckeye Central to push the lead to 31-21 after three quarters.
“That third quarter just wasn’t good with us,” Egan said. “They were able to stretch out the lead and it was an uphill fight from there.”
The hill got steeper as the final eight minutes got underway. The Bucks scored the first six points of the period, the last on a basket by Alex Kanney, expanded the advantage to 16, at 37-21, with 6:33 left.
But the Redmen were not finished. Bucyrus went on a frantic 18-4 run, capped by a Mike Wise basket with 34 second remaining, to get the Redmen back to within 41-39. Malachi Bayless drilled a pair of 3-point shots in the skein.
“That last 3 that (Bayless) hit, I told the kids that was my fault because it was,” Howell said. “I told them to maybe play off a little bit because they were beating us on penetration, and he pulled up and hit one two or three steps behind the 3-point line. Kudos to him, bad decision on my part.”
Bucyrus got the missed shot they needed from the Bucks, but Kanney stuck back the miss with 13 seconds to seal the win for Buckeye Central.
“We got it back down where it was manageable,” Egan said. “Our kids show a lot of resilience. They came back, down 16, and had a chance.”
Wise led the Redmen with 12 points. Bayless and Grady Jackson had eight each, while Nick Middleton grabbed four rebounds.
Kanney led the Bucks with a game-high 13 points, though BC’s top 3-point shooter did not have a 3. Tyler Rose and Damian Dean had eight points each. Rose, Kanney and Brady Kerschner had five boards apiece.
“Our guys did what we had to do to finish a game,” Howell said. “It wasn’t pretty at times, but we battled our way to nine wins. We’re hoping to get at least a couple of more.”
Buckeye Central begins Division IV tournament play at Mansfield Christian on Tuesday.
Fourteen turnovers in the middle two quarters proved costly to Bucyrus.
“The reason they could get up so much is we could rebound and we’re just not strong with it,” Egan said. “We were wearing red tonight. Sometimes we were mixed up with that and threw it to the team with white, which is not a good thing.”
“You’ve got to give (Bucyrus) some credit,” Howell said. “They picked up the defensive pressure a little bit. They gave us some trouble. We made some good choices when we were driving the basketball, but we didn’t make good decisions when we tried to finish.
“Their athleticism gave us a lot of trouble,” Howell added. “There were some things we wanted to do that we weren’t able to do.”
“Our guys will come back Monday,” Egan said. “We’ll get working on Monday and Tuesday and hopefully we’ll have a better outcome on Wednesday.”
The Redmen will embark on the tournament trail Wednesday in the Division III sectional when they host Lakota.
Buckeye Central won a thriller in the junior varsity game with a 40-39 win in overtime. Stephen Sostakowski hit a 3 at the buzzer to steal the win from the Redmen.
Sostakowski had 14 points to lead the Bucks and Graham Geissman added 10. Kolton Middleton had nine for Bucyrus and Blayne Stewart-Barto finished with six.
Box score
Bucyrus 13 3 5 18 — 39
Buckeye Central 11 8 12 12 — 43
Bucyrus (4-18, 2-14 N10): Shots 14-33; 3-pt. shots 4-8 (Malachi Bayless 2, Grady Jackson, Nick Middleton); Free throws 7-10; Rebounds 16 (Nick Middleton 4); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Joe Rager 2 3 7, Mike Wise 5 2 12, Grady Jackson 3 1 8, Nick Middleton 1 1 4, Malachi Bayless 3 0 8.
Buckeye Central (9-13, 6-10 N10): Shots 17-36; 3-pt. shots 1-7 (Tyler Rose); Free throws 8-13; Rebounds 22 (Tyler Rose 5, Alex Kanney 5, Brady Kerschner 5); Turnovers 15. Scoring: Casey Geissman 2 0 4, Tyler Rose 3 1 8, Alex Kanney 4 5 13, Tyler Sanderson 2 0 4, Brady Kerschner 2 2 6, Damian Dean 4 0 8.
JV: Buckeye Central 40-39 (OT).