BUCYRUS — The Bucyrus Redmen ended a drought at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
Before Monday night, the last time the Redmen had won at home was a 50-46 victory over Wynford on January 28, 2019.
The heavens opened up, symbolically, for the Redmen as they scored a season high 64 points on their way to a 64-53 over Mansfield Christian in a non-league game originally scheduled for December 3.
“It’s been a long time since we won a home game,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “That’s our first home (win) since I’ve been here. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come.”
Bucyrus (2-6) sputtered out of the gate. Mansfield Christian (1-7) got off to a 7-2 lead, with Logan Cyphers — who had a game-high 16 points for the Flames — supplying five of those points.
“He’s a great shooter from the outside,” Flames coach Cary Craner said of Cyphers. “He didn’t have his best game (tonight). I haven’t looked at the numbers, but I would say he didn’t shoot real well from the outside.
“But he’s definitely a scorer for us,” Craner continued. “He’s one we count on to put the ball in the hole.”
The Redmen rallied with 3-point shots from Mike Wise and Grady Jackson to trim their deficit to 9-8 by the end of the first period.
Bucyrus took the lead for good at 13-11 on a 3 from Nick Middleton early in the second quarter, though the hosts were never able to totally douse the Flames.
Wise led the way, scoring nine of his 15 points in the first half but he got help as well.
“Michael has made a level-headed commitment to being a better basketball player and I think it’s shown in all of our games. If we just finish the ball a little better, we’re good to go.”
Every time the Redmen tried seemed to pull away, Mansfield Christian rallied. Bucyrus built a 25-14 advantage with 1:38 left in the first half only to watch the Flames score nine of the last 13 points to trim their deficit to 29-23 at intermission.
“We struggle with turnovers and tonight was the same thing,” Craner said. “We didn’t have as many as we normally do. We didn’t shoot well the first half, but turnovers just killed us.”
The Flames had eight first-half turnovers and 21 for the game. Shooting wasn’t abysmal as they went 22 of 53 from the field for 41 percent. But free throw shooting was another story. Mansfield Christian was just four of 11 while Bucyrus hit 13 of 16, a big part of the difference in the game.
Egan credited his team’s dictating the pace of the game for getting to the line and then converting.
“That’s the way we want to play,” Egan said. “And it’s the first time in two years we’ve had a lot of guys in double figures. It makes the game a lot easier. And for us to be aggressive with the basketball to the basket, they got in foul trouble. We were able to take advantage of it and get to the line.”
The third quarter was almost a rerun of the second for the Redmen. They got the lead back to 10 at 41-31 on a basket by Jake Hamm at 3:42 but the Flames whittled it to 42-40 by period’s end.
Mansfield Christian was still as close as 46-43 with 5:24 left in the game when Cyphers hit the first of two free throws. However, the Bucyrus had one last surge left and sustained it, outscoring the visitors 18-10 to the end of the game.
Middleton matched Wise for scoring honors for the Redmen with 15 points. Jake Hamm added 12 points and Jackson finished with 11. Wise had 13 rebounds.
Amaar Davis seconded Cypher’s 16 points with 13 for the Flames. Braden Loose had nine points and Davis grabbed eight rebounds.
“We’re trying to slow it down right now to help prevent the turnovers,” Craner said. “We’re down a starter with COVID and we’re down another player with a dislocated shoulder that would be a sixth man. That hurts when you don’t have a full bench.”
“We had great minutes (off the bench),” Egan said. “Eddie (Dagher), Karson (Kimmel) and Malachi (Bayless) all contributed quality minutes and did some good things. We’d like to have a few more guys. We’d like to get to the point where we have more guys who can play and contribute.”
Bucyrus made it a sweep on the night, eking out a 35-34 win in the junior varsity game. Malachi Bayless led the Redmen with eight points, while Tyson O’Brien and David Hendrickson had six each.
Davis Wushinski had a game-high 11 points for Mansfield Christian and Brock Rentzel added six.
Box score
Mansfield Christian 9 14 17 13 — 53
Bucyrus 8 21 13 22 — 64
Mansfield Christian (1-7): Shots 22-53; 3-pt. shots 5-16 (Jace Craner 2, Zach Yoho, Braden Loose, Logan Cyphers); Free throws 1-11; Rebounds 31 (Amaar Davis 8); Turnovers 21. Scoring: Zach Yoho 1 0 3, Braden Loose 4 0 9, Amaar Davis 5 3 13, Jace Craner 3 0 8, Logan Cyphers 7 1 16, Isaac Vance 2 0 4.
Bucyrus (2-6): Shots 24-54; 3-pt. shots 3-10 (Mike Wise, Grady Jackson, Nick Middleton); Free throws 13-16; Rebounds 37 (Mike Wise 13); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Joe Rager 3 0 6, Karson Kimmel 1 0 2, Mike Wise 6 2 15, Grady Jackson 4 2 11, Jake Hamm 3 6 12, Nick Middleton 6 2 15, Malachi Bayless 1 0 2, Eddie Dagher 0 1 1.
JV: Bucyrus 35-34.