BUCYRUS — Inconsistency, especially on offense, has plagued Bucyrus most of the season.
The Redmen’s Division III sectional game against Lakota was true to form, only this time, it brought an abrupt end to their basketball season.
Bucyrus overcame a slow start to eventually build a nine-point lead in the third quarter, then saw the lead evaporate and the Raiders came away with a 48-46 sectional semifinal victory at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
With the win, Lakota (4-18) will play for a sectional title at No. 2 seed Western Reserve on Friday.
“Both programs are in kind of the same boat,” Lakota coach Ron Meade said. “You get in these positions not very often and it’s tough to know how to handle it.”
While the game ebbed and flowed several times over the course, the Raiders withstood one final charge by the Redmen.
After leading by 35-26 late in the third quarter and 35-28 by period’s end, Lakota went on a 20-4 run over the first 6:47 of the final quarter to build its own nine-point lead, 48-39.
The Redmen then frantically scored seven points over the last 1:13 and had two possessions down two points but could not tie or take the lead.
“We battled back but we should never have been in that position to begin with,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “Credit Lakota and Ron for doing what they did. We didn’t step up and react to it.”
The Raiders jumped out to an 11-4 lead after one quarter as the Mr. Hyde version of the Redmen offense showed up, hitting just two of 10 shots from the field.
“We accomplished a very rare feat tonight when we were the leading scorer after the first quarter,” Meade said. “That’s been a tough market for us.”
Bucyrus got out of neutral in the second quarter to trim its deficit to 19-16 at intermission.
“We’ve struggled with consistency all year,” Egan said. “When we find something that works for us, you’d think you’d continue to hammer that home. We tend to do the opposite at times. It’s very frustrating. I certainly feel sorry for our seniors who gave just a great two years’ effort.”
The Dr. Jekyll offense took over in the third, as the Redmen went on a 12-0 run midway through the frame. Malachi Bayless hit a pair of 3s, and two free throws and Mike Wise scored on back-to-back possessions to give Bucyrus a 33-24 advantage.
“We knew that was the kind of game (it would be) because we knew they want to press and get up and down the floor,” Meade said. “We haven’t pressed a lot this year, but we decided we were going to tonight and had to play this kind of game and it worked out well for us.”
That press worked especially well in the fourth quarter, forcing eight Bucyrus turnovers, and holding the Redmen to two points over the first six minutes of the period.
“One of the fundamental things of basketball is inbounding the ball so that you can run stuff,” Egan said. “We had trouble inbounding the ball, we had trouble passing the ball, we had trouble dribbling the ball. We certainly had trouble rebounding the ball and we had trouble finishing the ball. All of these things combined certainly weren’t good for us this evening.”
The 7-0 run got the Redmen back to within 48-46, the final two on a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left. Bucyrus had two more possessions but couldn’t convert on either to come up short.
Bayless led the Redmen with 16 points — including three 3s — while Wise and Nick Middleton had 10 points and seven rebounds each.
Middleton and Karson Kimmel played their last game in a Bucyrus uniform.
Camron Burley had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead the Raiders. Justin Miller had 10 points and A.J. Lindsay added nine.
“We went into the fourth quarter down (seven), which is huge,” Meade said. “We were a little nervous and I think they were a little down, but our kids have heart. They just didn’t quit. They haven’t quit all year. When they want to play, they are one of the better defensive teams.”
“It’s a microcosm of our season,” Egan said. “We miss a lot of easy shots, we don’t rebound the ball, we get beat on straight-line drives — just fundamental basketball. Until we learn to play fundamentally better, the results around here are not going to change.”
“We just played hard. We played our butts off,” Meade said. “They did not want to lose. They knew they were going to win in the fourth quarter. We knew they knew that.”
Box score
Lakota 11 8 9 20 — 48
Bucyrus 4 12 19 11 — 46
Lakota (4-18): Shots 17-45; 3-pt. shots 2-12 (Camron Burley, Ethan Klotz); Free throws 12-12; Rebounds 31 (Camron Burley 8); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Jayden Bonnell 1 0 2, Justin Miller 4 2 10, Elijah Franks 2 2 6, Logan Streaker 0 2 2, Camron Burley 5 3 14, A.J. Lindsay 3 3 9, J. Matz 1 0 2, Ethan Klotz 1 0 3.
Bucyrus (4-19): Shots 17-42; 3-pt. shots 5-16 (Malachi Bayless 3, Nick Middleton 2); Free throws 7-10; Rebounds 27 (Mike Wise 7, Nick Middleton 7); Turnovers 22. Scoring: Joe Rager 1 0 2, Karson Kimmel 2 0 4, Mike Wise 5 0 10, Grady Jackson 0 4 4, Nick Middleton 4 0 10, Malachi Bayless 5 3 16.