NORTH ROBINSON — Colonel Crawford basketball has a new look this year.
The results are very much the same, however.
The Eagles have gone from fast paced, high powered offense to a half-court, lockdown defensive style.
Bucyrus got a taste of it Saturday at Mac Morrison Gymnasium. Colonel Crawford held the Redmen to 23 percent shooting and outrebounded the visitors, 32-14, in a 58-23 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory.
“We’ve done that all year,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “This group guards and we rebound the ball at both ends. They’ve got a will, and they play hard, and they take pride in defense and rebounding, and we’ve done this since Day 1.”
The tone was set for Bucyrus (1-5, 0-3 N10) in the first quarter. The Redmen hit just one of six shots and had only one rebound as the Eagles ran out to a 14-4 lead by period’s end.
“We only had (14) rebounds,” Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis said. “We almost went through the first quarter without a rebound.”
Things didn’t improve in the second quarter for the Redmen. They did manage to hit three of 10 shots, but Colonel Crawford (5-1, 3-0) more than matched that by connecting on six of nine from the field to expand the lead to 34-11 at halftime. Trevor Vogt had seven of his game-high 22 points in the frame for the Eagles.
“We did a good job of contesting first shots and not allowing second shots,” Sheldon said.
The veteran coach also credited the atmosphere as a factor.
“There’s not a better atmosphere in Crawford County than here,” Sheldon said. “This is a special place. Our community comes out, our student section’s the best, it’s old school, what it was like in the 90s and early 2000s.”
The Redmen could never gain any traction on either end of the floor. Colonel Crawford face guarded and helped off on leading scorer Malachi Bayless, holding him scoreless for the first three quarters.
“Even with our low depth, we match up well with them,” Hargis said. “We just got outworked. It’s simple stuff.”
“We did an unbelievable job on Malachi,” Sheldon said. “We want to shut down the best player and he, by far, is the best player on that team. The McMichael boys (Connor and Ryan) on him and coverage when he came off ball screens was excellent.”
Payne DeGray seconded Vogt’s 22 points with 10 points and completed a double double with 13 rebounds.
Demarius Munn-Page led the Redmen with seven points. Bayless and Tyrone Mass had five each. Noah Burke had five rebounds.
“They’ve bought in, and they play hard,” Hargis said of the Eagles. “Kudos to Coach Sheldon. He’s been around forever for a reason. This year’s just another example of how he evolves with what his players are. It’s a sign of a great coach. He’s not stuck to one thing. It’s impressive.”
“Our philosophy over the past 18 years is we’re going to play to our strengths,” Sheldon said. “We needed to turn into a half-court, slam, punch, knockout, fight and we’ve done that.”
“Three games in five days. I’ve got kids sick,” Hargis said. “There’s no excuses. We have to get back to the drawing board.
“It’s just at the rim,” Hargis added. “Sitting down and defending man-to-man and carving out space.”
The Eagles kept pace in the N10 with the win.
“It’s early. I always say a league race is a marathon, playing home-and-home and 14 games,” Sheldon said. “But we got off to a great start. Now we set up an early showdown next Friday at Carey.”
Box score
Bucyrus 4 7 5 7 — 23
Colonel Crawford 14 20 12 12 — 58
Bucyrus (1-5, 0-3 N10): Shots 8-34; 3-pt. shots 3-12 (Demarius Munn-Page, Malachi Bayless, Tyrone Mass); Free throws 4-4; Rebounds 14 (Noah Burke 5); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Demarius Munn-Page 2 2 7, Noah Burke 1 0 2, Jackson Farrar 2 0 4, Malachi Bayless 1 2 5, Tyrone Mass 2 0 5.
Colonel Crawford (5-1, 3-0 N10): Shots 20-40; 3-pt. shots 8-21 (Logan Goddard 2, Trevor Vogt 2, Lucas Foy 2, Kaden Bruner 2); Free throws 10-15; Rebounds 32 (Payne DeGray 13); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Lucas Goddard 2 0 6, Trevor Vogt 8 4 22, Lucas Foy 3 0 8, Connor McMichael 2 1 5, Kaden Bruner 2 0 6, Walker Cramer 0 1 1, Payne DeGray 3 4 10.
JV: Colonel Crawford 49-11.