NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — It was a regular season game fitting of a regional final.

In a battle of undefeated titans, Colonel Crawford held off visiting Margaretta, 51-45 in front of a standing room only crowd at Mac Morrison Gymnasium.

“What a great high school atmosphere,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “That’s old school, with standing room only and people got their money’s worth tonight.”

The marquee matchup was only possible in the regular season as Margaretta (8-1) is a Division V team and the Eagles are in Division VI.

The Polar Bears featured University of Dayton commit Julian Washington. Colonel Crawford (5-0) returns its core group from last year’s Final Four appearance, making the game a must-see for local high school hoops fanatics.

“I was pleased with the environment we had to play in tonight,” Margaretta coach Steve Keller said. “Crawford’s a really nice team and Dave does a really nice job.”

The Polar Bears came out of the gate fast, building a 17-9 first quarter lead that included a 7-0 run over the last 1:36 of the period.

The Eagles reversed the momentum in the second period by going to their not-so-secret weapon, Payne DeGray. The 6-5 hulk scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the frame as Colonel Crawford fought back to tie the score at 25-25 by halftime.

“We talk about Payne DeGray. He’s a beast inside,” Sheldon said. “Then they started doubling him and Peyton Baker hits a huge 3. Parker Weithman in the first half hits two (3s). And Brayden Holt — what can you say?”

The Margaretta mentor was second to none in his respect for DeGray and the Eagles as a team.

“They’re workhorses, man,” Keller said. “DeGray — he’s the biggest, strongest and tonight, the best finisher we’ll see all year. They were very good. Couple that with Holt running the show, that’s a nice team.”

Colonel Crawford finished the first half on an 8-0 run and stretched it to a 13-0 skein into the third quarter to take a 30-25 lead on a basket by John DeGray at the 6:25 mark. The Eagles were able to bump that a six-point lead, 38-32 by period’s end.

“I’m proud of our guys. It was a war for 32 minutes,” Sheldon said. “They made a run in the first half. Then we get it tied at halftime. We come out the third and make a great run. Then they make a run and we call time out and then we withstood it.”

Withstood was exactly what the Eagles did. The Polar Bears chipped away at the deficit in the fourth quarter until they finally regained the lead, at 43-42, on a basket by Washington with 3:27 left in the game.

Each team then had two empty possessions before Baker hit his clutch 3 —that his coach referred to — with 1:32 left to put Colonel Crawford back in the lead for good at 45-43.

“They did a nice job. We didn’t execute late, but we haven’t been in that situation other than in practice,” Keller said. “So, we’ll keep getting better with that.”

Washington led the Polar Bears with 16 points and five rebounds. Judah Keller added 10 points, and Kale Bailey grabbed five rebounds.

“We did a great job to hold (Washington) to 16,” Sheldon said. “He’s averaging 25. But we made it tough for him to get it. When he put it on the floor, we made it tough. He’s the best player we’re going to play all year long. He’s that good.”

Holt ended with 11 points to second Payne DeGray’s 23. Holt also had eight boards out of his point guard position.

Sheldon was most impressed with his team’s overall defensive effort and control on offense.

“They average 77 a game. They score so much off the press. We only had us for eight turnovers,” Sheldon said. “And Brayden, the facilitator, controlled the game at the point. They put Julian on him, a DI player.”

Sheldon noted the importance of staying with the game plan in games of this magnitude.

“I thought they stuck to the plan of how we wanted to attack them,” Sheldon said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t say my assistant, Nate Hill — the preparation we did with this game was outstanding and a lot of that credit goes to Nate Hill.”

“It was a great, great game for us to be in and we’ll get better from here, I’m sure,” Keller said.

“It’s just a great non-league game. There’s nothing won tonight,” Sheldon said. “You make a statement across the state of Ohio, playing two great teams, when people pick up that score. There’s no championship, but this is what prepares you because it was a battle for 32 minutes.”

Colonel Crawford also won the junior varsity game, 43-27. Jaxson Ervin, Evan Metzger, Wyatt Spiegel, and Hayden Spears each had 10 points for the Eagles. A.J. Walters finished with 14 for Margaretta.

Box score                                                        

Margaretta                17       8        7     13 — 45

Colonel Crawford       9      16     13     13 — 51

Margaretta (8-1): Shots 17-37; 3-pt. shots 2-9; Free throws 9-10; Rebounds 17 (Kale Bailey 5, Julian Washington 5); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Kale Bailey 4 0 9, Jake Bouy 1 0 2, Julian Washington 6 4 16, Judah Keller 2 5 10, Tyson Bailey 4 0 8.

Colonel Crawford (5-0): Shots 20-41; 3-pt. shots 4-13 (Parker Weithman 2, Peyton Baker 2); Free throws 7-15; Rebounds 25 (Payne DeGray 10, Brayden Holt 8); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Parker Weithman 2 0 6, Peyton Baker 2 0 6, John DeGray 2 1 5, Brayden Holt 3 5 11, Payne DeGray 11 1 23.

JV: Colonel Crawford 43-27.