NORTH ROBINSON — All week long, Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said that he didn’t have to say anything to his team before the Eagles’ battle with Upper Sandusky.
After all, the Eagles fell to the Rams, 47-45, on a last-second 3-point shot by Upper’s Mason Vent, in Upper Sandusky back on Dec. 8.
“I didn’t have to say anything this week. I didn’t have to say anything tonight,” Sheldon said. “That brotherhood in there was focused. They were locked in all week, so there was nothing Coach Sheldon said to them pregame. I’ll just leave it at that.”
This time, the Eagles returned the favor.
Crawford held a 39-30 lead late in the third period, but the Rams came storming back to take a 43-41 lead with 5:05 left in the game.
From there, the Eagles took over defensively, shutting the Rams down for the remainder of the game. Still, it took a pair of Gavin Feichtner free throws with 5.6 seconds left to seal the Eagles’ 47-46 win.
The win was the eighth straight for the Eagles, who improved to 6-3 in the Northern 10 Conference, 10-3 overall.
The Rams fell to 7-2 and 10-4.
The Eagles seemed to have the game well in hand with 2:38 left in the third period, taking a 39-30 lead on a Jordan Fenner runner in the lane.
The Rams, however, were in no mood to give up.
“That’s a very good basketball team, a good basketball program,” Sheldon said. “When you look at what they have done in our conference in the past few years, they have been very competitive. And we knew they were going to make those runs.”
Vent scored on a layup and Cole Sowers also hit one, cutting the CC lead to 39-34 after three.
As the fourth period began, Evan Young scored for the Rams and Sowers added a pair of free throws, cutting the Eagles’ lead even further, to 39-38.
Feichtner came back for Crawford with a layup, but the Rams used a three-point play from Young and a Sowers layup to take a 43-41 lead.
From there, the Rams didn’t score again until Young dropped a three with 1.2 seconds left in the game.
Zye Shipman tied the game at 43-43 with a jumper and Feichtner scored again, and the Eagles led, 45-43, with 2:09 left in the game.
From that point, the Rams had several opportunities to tie the game, but the Eagles’ defense was up to the challenge.
“We got some decent stops and a stop and a rebound,” Sheldon said. “You have to get stops when the game is on the line.
“I’m just very proud of this group because they faced adversity and we didn’t point fingers in that locker room. We kept it together like a brotherhood.”
Upper Sandusky coach Jeff Winslow said that the Rams’ inability to score late has plagued his team in recent weeks.
“It’s like Groundhog Day man, it’s the same exact thing as the last time,” Winslow said. “And we got some pretty good looks. But for whatever reason, the ball is not going in right now.
“We’re not going to give up,” he added. “We tell ourselves that we can win every game we play, and we knew this was going to be a game of runs. We gave ourselves a chance to win and at some point, you have to start making open shots and things like that.”
Sheldon said that his team has been getting better and better since their struggles in the opening portion of the season.
“I’m proud of this group. If you look back to the second week of the season, we lost three in a row to three very good teams in Upper, Carey and Mohawk,” Sheldon said.
“We put this team together in November, and we faced adversity. And in this day and age, when kids face adversity, they point their fingers, or they go somewhere. That’s what happens in society. And that brotherhood in that locker room kept us together.”
Feichtner led the Eagles with 16 points and Fenner added 13. Reis Walker tossed in 10.
“We shot it well tonight,” Sheldon said. “It was nice to see Reis Walker make some big shots for us early on. And Feichtner is a load inside. He’s one of the top players in this league.”
Young led the Rams with 13 points and Cameron McCreary and Sowers each added 10. But McCreary, who played at Colonel Crawford last season, did not score in the second half.
Winslow is optimistic that his team will break out of its offensive funk.
“One of these days they will fall and right now they are not,” Winslow said. “There are a lot of things we’ll need to correct. We just have to put the ball in the basket.”
Box score
Upper Sandusky 16 9 9 12 — 46
Colonel Crawford 18 12 9 8 — 47
Stats
Upper Sandusky (10-4, 7-2 N10): Shots 16-45; 3-pt 4 (Evan Young 2, Trevor Clifford, Cameron McCreary); Free throws 10-10; Rebounds 25; Turnovers 8. Scoring: Cameron McCreary 3 3 10, Trevor Clifford 2 0 5, Mason Vent 3 2 8, Cole Sowers 4 2 10, Evan Young 4 3 13.
Colonel Crawford (10-3, 6-3 N10): Shots 19-42; 3-pt shots 4 (Gavin Feichtner 2, Jordan Fenner, Reis Walker); Free throws 5-13; Rebounds 31; Turnovers 20. Scoring: Reis Walker 4 1 10, Jordan Fenner 5 2 13, Zye Shipman 3 0 6, Gavin Feichtner 6 2 16, Chase Walker 1 0 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 58-51.