BUCYRUS — The Bucyrus Redmen dug themselves a big first-quarter hole and Mohawk’s A.J. Hess had a hand on the shovel for the rest of the game.
The Warriors raced out to a 22-3 lead in the opening frame, then had to hold off the surging Redmen, 57-46, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
The ingredient that prevented Bucyrus from coming all the way back was Hess. The junior scored a game-high 31 points — 12 in the pivotal third quarter — to buffer the Redmen rally.
“This is my sixth year here,” Mohawk coach Paul Dunn said. “I can remember a few guys that put us on their back and carried us through rough patches.
“We had two of our leading guys (Reese and Bryce Hannam) were on the bench,” Dunn continued. “A.J. stepped up and carried us through that third quarter, settled us down, got us to the fourth quarter with the lead, and we got those guys back in the game.”
Hess scored 12 of Mohawk’s 14 points in the third period which was key to preserving the Warriors’ lead which they maintained at every quarter break. Bucyrus (1-1, 0-1 N10) had whittled a seven-point halftime deficit to 38-36 on a basket by Grady Jackson at the 3:19 mark.
Undaunted, Hess scored eight straight — including a pair of 3-point shots — to make it an eight-point Mohawk (2-1, 1-0) advantage by period’s end.
“He’s a difficult matchup,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said of Hess. “We did a good job with him in spurts. But when you’re a good player, you’re a good player. The problem with a good player like him is they’re good in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, he was pretty good.”
After falling behind by 19, the Redmen went to work. They were able to trim the deficit to 24-10 after the first period and outscored the Warriors 15-8 in the second quarter to pull within 32-25 at halftime.
“We knew that being up 19 wasn’t a safe place to be,” Dunn said. “They were going to press us, and we were going have to take care of the ball. We got into foul trouble and two of our leading guys got off the floor and we’ve got to put freshmen out there. (Bucyrus) made a run in the second quarter and made it very interesting going into the second half.”
The Hannams each picked up their second foul early in the second quarter and both got their third early in the third as the Warriors battled foul trouble.
“We buried ourselves in a 19-point hole and our kids fought back,” Egan said. “We got it to five in the fourth quarter and we didn’t rebound a missed free throw and it just went downhill from there.”
Trailing 46-38 after three, Bucyrus trimmed the Mohawk lead to 46-41 on a 3 by Malachi Bayless to start the fourth quarter scoring. Hess answered from deep and the Redmen could never get closer than seven from there.
Nathan Geary was the only other Warrior in double figures with 14 points. Hess grabbed 14 rebounds.
Bayless and Mike Wise had 16 each for Bucyrus. Wise had seven rebounds and Jake Hamm added six.
“Coach Egan — I don’t know what special formula he gives them, but his kids just play hard for 32 minutes,” Dunn said. “There’s no backdown. They give everything they’ve got to him and that’s a credit to him and the kids over there.”
“Grady and Joe (Rager) got in foul trouble in the first half, but we were able to weather the storm,” Egan said. “That’s a credit to our kids — Eddie (Dagher) and Kolton (Middleton) and Dylan (Lanker) came in and did what we asked them to do. We need to find a way to get off to a better start. Our effort was outstanding.
It’s a credit to Mohawk,” Egan added. “Paul puts them in a good position and those kids knocked down some big shots.”
Mohawk also won the junior varsity game, 52-29. Boomer Cleveland had a game-high 17 points and Hunter Haynes added 13 to lead the Warriors.
Blayne Stewart-Barto had 14 for Bucyrus and Kam Lewis added 8.
Box score
Mohawk 24 8 14 11 — 57
Bucyrus 10 15 13 8 — 46
Mohawk (2-1, 1-0 N10): Shots 21-47; 3-pt. shots 6-20 (A.J. Hess 4, Nathan Geary 2); Free throws 9-13; Rebounds 32 (A.J. Hess 14); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Nathan Geary 5 2 14, Collin Barth 2 0 4, A.J. Hess 11 5 31, Reese Hannam 0 2 2, Bryce Hannam 3 0 6.
Bucyrus (1-1, 0-1 N10): Shots 18-51; 3-pt. shots 4-15 (Malachi Bayless 4); Free throws 6-8; Rebounds 30 (Mike Wise 7, Jake Hamm 6); Turnovers 21. Scoring: Joe Rager 1 2 4, Mike Wise 7 2 16, Grady Jackson 3 0 6, Jake Hamm 1 0 2 Kolton Middleton 1 0 2, Malachi Bayless 5 2 16.
JV: Mohawk 52-29.