BUCYRUS — When it came to taking the big shots in crucial situations, Bucyrus’ Mike Wise had no qualms.
The 6-foot-1 junior hit a runner in the lane with one-second left in the first half to give the Redmen a 24-22 lead, then saved the biggest play for the last.
Wise made a crucial steal with 20 seconds left in the game, then drove the length of the floor to hit a contested layup with 14 seconds left to give Bucyrus a 47-45 lead.
From there, Galion’s Hanif Donaldson got the ball under the basket with one second left, but Wise made a critical block to save the Redmen’s two-point win.
“Mike knew exactly what to do with the ball in that situation,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “He’s a good enough athlete he can get to the basket and then coming up with the big defensive play at the end was big, too.”
The win improved the Redmen’s record to 4-14 overall, while Galion fell to 0-16. But Galion coach Bobby Gossom felt this was his team’s best performance of the season.
“We’ve been preaching that all year and they finally gave that on both ends of the floor,” Gossom said. “We didn’t settle for shots offensively, we were patient. We controlled the tempo of the game.
“We finally looked like a team.”
The Redmen also got a huge 3-point shot from Malachi Bayless with one second left in the third period to take a 36-35 lead entering the final period.
“They’ve done pretty good handling the clock situation and stayed patient and Nick (Middleton) did a good job of handling the offense,” Egan said.
Gossom said that his team wasn’t good at the end of the quarters but felt this team gave its best effort.
“We gave up a couple of shots at crucial times, to end the half, to end the third, and, of course, to end the game,” Gossom said. “We preach that on some of the time outs. We have to end those quarters and the half on a good note. At the end of the game, we shouldn’t have given that one up, but we talk about every possession is the most important, from the tip to the finish.”
Donaldson paced the Tigers with 12 points as Galion shot 20 of 41 from the floor. Six Tigers scored in the game.
“We’re not going to dwell on anything,” Gossom said. “That last possession was magnified because we were in the game.
“We finally got a rotation where the guys knew what their roles were and we got them on the floor, and they didn’t have to do things that they are not comfortable doing. But I challenged Hanif (Donaldson), Rece (Payne), and Carter (Keinath) to step up and carry that load offensively. That way some of the other guys can feel more comfortable in their roles. And I thought all three of them did a great job of accepting that challenge and everyone else did a great job of fitting in,” Gossom added.
For the Redmen, the win was even sweeter because it was the first win over Galion since 2011, something Egan said he didn’t realize.
“I didn’t know anything about that,” Egan said. “We’ll take any win we can get. It wasn’t pretty, but we’re not real pretty anyway.”
Wise and Middleton paced the Redmen with nine points each on the night, but seven players graced the scoring column. Bucyrus made 19 of 47 shots from the floor.
“Combined total, we played three seconds of defense in the first half, which got us a basket at the end of the half,” Egan said. “Then I thought I saw us play defense for about 30 seconds in the second half when it mattered the most.
“We’ll take it any way we can get it,” he added. “We’re not going to apologize for anything. It obviously wasn’t our best defensive effort, but it was one that was good enough.”
Galion won the junior varsity game, 47-34. Nick McMullen led Galion with eight points. Kolton Middleton scored 14 for Bucyrus.
Box score
Galion 13 9 13 10 — 45
Bucyrus 9 15 12 11 — 47
Galion (0-16): Shots 20-41; 3-pt. shots 3 (Rece Payne 2, Carter Keinath); Free throws 2-3; Rebounds 28; Turnovers 12. Scoring: Troy Manring 2 0 4, Carter Keinath 3 0 7, Rece Payne 3 0 8, Andrew Sparks 3 0 6, Hanif Donaldson 5 2 12, Kyle Foust 4 0 8.
Bucyrus (4-14): Shots 19-47; 3-pt. shots 7 (Nick Middleton 3, Karson Kimmel 2, Malachi Bayless 2); Free throws 2-3; Rebounds 20; Turnovers 8. Scoring: Joe Rager 2 1 5, Karson Kimmel 3 0 8, Mike Wise 4 1 9, Grady Jackson 4 0 8, Jake Hamm 1 0 2, Nick Middleton 3 0 9, Malachi Bayless 2 0 6.
JV: Galion 47-34.