By Dan Messerschmidt

NEW WASHINGTON — It was a battle of two teams trying to right the ship on their respective seasons.

Buckeye Central and Bucyrus each had one win. The Bucks defended their home court, shooting 54 percent from the field, to upend the visiting Redmen, 63-51, in a Northern 10 Conference game.

One key for Buckeye Central was containing Bucyrus’ Ryan Evans, the leading scorer in the N10, to two points.

“Evans only had two points,” Buckeye Central coach Phil Loy said. “We did a great job of keeping him in check.”

The Bucks’ defense not only held Evans down, but forced the Redmen into four of 13 shooting in the first quarter to build a 19-9 lead after one. Bucyrus (1-7, 0-5 N10) never led after Darren Wurm gave Buckeye Central (2-7, 2-4) the lead — at 7-5 — with a three-point shot at 4:21 of the first quarter.

The Bucks shot the ball well throughout, with a brief lull in the second quarter and the Redmen never found their shooting rhythm.

“They have two guys, (Max) Loy and Wurm who, when they cross half court with the ball, it’s in,” Bucyrus coach Justin Mattix said. “They make big shots.”

The Redmen took advantage of the Buckeye Central struggles from the field in the second quarter to chip away at the deficit. Bucyrus pulled to within 20-18 on a basket by Dylan Goff midway through the second frame.

The Bucks managed to hang onto the lead, 26-21, by period’s end.

“I never pictured us separating from them,” Loy said. “It wasn’t until a minute left in the game that I thought we would win.”

Despite three of 14 shooting in the third quarter, the Redmen fell two points farther back, seven at 39-32, by period’s end.

“We have to do a better job of not turning the ball over,” Mattix said. “And we have to make better decisions with the ball.”

Buckeye Central went on a 12-2 run over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 51-34. But Bucyrus answered with a 13-3 skein of its own to get it back to 54-47 on a 3 by Harley Robinson with 2:55 left. Robinson scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the period.

But the Redmen could get no closer. It was still 58-51 on a basket by Kyle Hamm with 1:40 to go, but the Bucks scored the last five points to win going away.

“Darren kept us going,” Loy said. “We missed some shots and free throws early. We have to shoot a higher percentage in the paint.”

Max Loy finished with a game-high 21 points for Buckeye Central and Wurm added 16. Loy also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Gram Dick seconded Robinson’s 19 with 12 points and Hamm added 10. Robinson pulled down seven rebounds.

“We saw some good things. We got some scoring tonight from our bench guys,” Mattix said. “That was nice, especially with Ryan only scoring two.”

“I thought it would be a tight, ugly game,” Loy said. “We did enough to win.”

“It’s frustrating, but we know we have a long way to go,” Mattix said. “We’re starting to see that we need to do these things to win games.”

Buckeye Central held on for a 41-38 win in the junior varsity game. Jacob Heefner had 12 points for the Bucks and Tyler Rose added 11.

Lucas Kozinski had a game-high 18 points for Bucyrus and Kenton Lutz finished with 11.