BUCYRUS — Wynford has dominated its long-running basketball rivalry with Bucyrus, including the first meeting this year, a 52-41 Royals’ win at Wynford.
On Thursday, the Redmen were flat in a 43-32 loss to Ridgedale at home, not the best situation leading up to the rematch with their nemesis.
The Redmen put all that behind them Saturday night, however. They got out to a 16-7 first-quarter lead and never trailed from there in pulling away to a 58-33 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“We got off to a good start and that certainly helped us,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “And I thought our pressure was pretty good the whole game.”
Bucyrus’ pressure was the theme of the night. The Redmen forced six turnovers in the first quarter and 19 for the game.
“We turned the ball over,” Wynford coach Steve Mohr said. “They speeded us up. We didn’t handle that well. And they shot the ball extremely well. They were a good basketball team tonight.”
Wynford (3-10, 2-8 N10) started out in a zone defense and the Redmen were dead last in 3-point shooting percentage in the N10. But Grady Jackson drilled a 3 from the left corner to give Bucyrus (3-11, 2-9) the lead for good at 7-4 and the tone was set.
Nick Middleton hit another shot from behind the arc on the next possession and the Redmen got two more in the second quarter, one from Mike Wise and another from Middleton at the halftime buzzer, which took the lead to 32-22 at intermission.
“It’s always good when guys get a lot of touches,” Egan said. “When it’s your turn to go and score, we went and scored tonight. I’m really proud of our guys. They deserve all the credit.”
Balanced scoring was key as seven different Bucyrus players scored between four and 15 points each.
“They got some open looks and we weren’t disciplined defensively in terms of how we covered our zone,” Mohr said. “Thursday night, we did a great job in our 3-2 (zone). But tonight, we took chances and got out of position. And they got open shots and they hit shots. One of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league was one of the best tonight.”
The Redmen onslaught intensified in the third quarter with Bucyrus outscoring the Royals, 16-4, to build a commanding 48-26 lead by period’s end. Jackson scored six of his nine points in the frame.
“I thought our defensive transition was really good,” Egan said. “The kids played with a lot of energy. It was good to see. It was a long time coming and hopefully it’s something we can continue to do. We were able to come out in the third quarter and it was 16-4 and that really helped.”
Wynford struggled shooting in the third period, hitting just two of nine shots while the Redmen hit seven of 10. The Royals also committed six turnovers and Bucyrus got points off five of them.
“Once they got that double-digit lead, they went to their four corners, their spread offense and we didn’t defend that very well,” Mohr said. “We let it get to a double-digit lead and we were on our heels the whole night. It’s just a really disappointing effort on our part.”
Only Dustin Brady was a scoring threat for the Royals. Brady finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Jaron Filliater, who had 23 points in the first meeting between the teams, was held to seven.
“He was somebody we talked about all the time,” Egan said of Filliater. “He’s left-handed, he’s long and he’s tough to keep off the glass. Karson (Kimmel) did a good job keeping him off the glass and Jake (Hamm) came in and did the same thing, so those guys deserve a lot of credit for that.”
Middleton led the Redmen with 15 points and Malachi Bayless came off the bench to score 10. Jackson had four rebounds to go with his nine points.
“Our kids took good shots. We were able to spread the floor a little bit,” Egan said. “I thought Nick did a good job commanding things. And Joe (Rager) on the defensive end and Grady and Nick really pressured their guards hard and that allowed us to get the ball and spread the floor. We made some pretty good decisions down the stretch.”
“(Bucyrus) got to the offensive glass. The 50-50 balls — they got those,” Mohr said. “They wanted it tonight, flat out. I think they wanted it a little bit more than we did.”
“I don’t think our focus was very good in our previous game (against Ridgedale),” Egan said. “We turned (the Rockets) over 17 times and only got two baskets. We were a little bit better (tonight) of getting turnovers and finishing at the other end.”
Wynford got a split on the night with a 45-29 win in the junior varsity game. Sam McMillan led the Royals with 13 points and Avery Langenderfer added 11.
David Hendrickson had nine for Bucyrus, while Malachi Bayless and Tyson McDaniel added six each.
Box score
Wynford 7 15 4 7 — 33
Bucyrus 16 16 16 10 — 58
Wynford (3-10, 2-8 N10): Shots 15-34; 3-pt shots 1-6 (Lucas Hackworth); Free throws 2-4; Rebounds 20 (Dustin Brady 7); Turnovers 19. Scoring: Dustin Brady 7 1 15, Lucas Hackworth 2 0 5, Cainen Allen 1 0 2, Jaron Filliater 3 1 7, Toby Butterfield 2 0 4.
Bucyrus (3-11, 2-9 N10): Shots 24-43; 3-pt. shots 4-7; Free throws 6-7; Rebounds 19 (Grady Jackson 4); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Joe Rager 3 2 8, Karson Kimmel 2 1 5, Mike Wise 3 0 7, Grady Jackson 4 0 9, Jake Hamm 2 0 4, Nick Middleton 6 1 15, Malachi Bayless 4 2 10.
JV: Wynford 45-29.