NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — Brayden Holt knew when to turn it on. A tight first quarter ended when the 6-foot-1 senior drained a 30-footer to give Colonel Crawford a 23-17 lead over Carey.

He was just getting warmed up.

Holt finished with a game-high 32 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals as the Eagles topped the Blue Devils 77-51 to claim its third straight Northern 10 Athletic Conference title at Mac Morrison Gymnasium Friday night.

“It’s always special to win a championship, especially against your rival on your home court and with a packed house. Nothing better,” he said.

“We want to try and build some more championships after that.”

It was the second quarter when Holt really took matters into his own hands, scoring 14 points, including 3 triples.

“Getting in the rhythm is nice. The DeGray brothers had 6 and 8 points in the first quarter too, so they took some of the attention off me. Then I was able to get some shots to fall and built some confidence off that,” Holt said.

“In practice we’re getting a bunch of shots up and we’re working getting game reps, plus working out by myself.”

The Eagles built a 47-26 lead at halftime and Peyton Baker hit a 3 as the third quarter buzzer sounded for a 69-37 advantage.

Payne DeGray ended with 21 points and 6 boards, and John DeGray netted 12 and 5 rebounds.

Colonel Crawford moves to 18-1, 13-0 in the league, while Carey is 10-9, 9-2.

Head coach David Sheldon watched as his team celebrated with a net cutting and a trophy presentation.

“Give Carey credit. They came out and (Kyler) Boes hit a couple of 3s. We called a timeout and we talked about our team. Our defense stepped up to allow our offense to get going,” he said.

Boes and Dalton Roberts gave the visitors a brief 10-6 lead before John DeGray scored 6 points in about a minute and a half.

“Payne DeGray was outstanding. At the end of the first and the second quarters what Brayden did shows why he’s the Player of the Year in the N10, to be honest. All of our guys, and a great thing was having John DeGray back healthy. He goes for 8 in the first half. He had to sit out a couple of games because of an injury. He looked 100% tonight.”

Crawford won the league championship last year en route to a historic season and a 25-2 mark that ended in the Division VI state semifinals.

“This marks the end of the N10 as we know it,” Sheldon quipped. “Next year we’re going to divisions, and we’ve seen how that works in the old NCC back in the day.

“Five of the last six years to have a league championship and three in a row. Just the consistency, not just of these guys, but of the guys before them. A league championship is hard; it’s a 14-game journey.”

Carey won it outright in 2022-23 and four teams claimed a share of the crown two years ago, with Carey, Colonel Crawford, Seneca East and Mohawk all going 10-4.

Carey was led by Tripp Phoenix with 10 points. Chase Stone and Roberts added 8 points each.

Blue Devils head coach Zac Bame said it’s been a brutal week.

“We had Old Fort, Liberty-Benton and then these guys, with just one day to prepare for them. I don’t wish that on anybody, but our kids came in and didn’t complain.”

Carey fell to Old Fort, 69-57, and to L-B, 57-30.

“We had a chance to win that game with Old Fort. Liberty-Benton kind of got away from us. I liked the way we battled tonight. You’re not going to play this kind of competition all the time.”

Three league games await the Blue Devils, starting with Mohawk, then Bucyrus and Buckeye Central.

“There’s a lot to still play for. Our kids pushed themselves and our coaches made sure to scout those (league) games a little bit harder.”

Bame said his team’s goal was to try to win an N10 title “and we did all we could to give ourselves a chance.”

Colonel Crawford’s hallmark has been its tough defense.

“Going into tonight I think our conference wins, we gave up like 36 points (average) a game. We were able to celebrate a little bit tonight,” Sheldon said.

“Brayden just took it over and he made some tough shots. Him and Payne led us to the Final Four last year and these guys are on a mission.”

The Eagles are on the road with Fredericktown on Tuesday and Seneca East next Friday.

“It’s not what these guys do from December through March. It’s what they do in the off-season when nobody (else) is in this gym. They spend so much time in the gym working on their skills,” Sheldon said.

“Success breeds success. Look at football. Last spring baseball went to the regional. It’s just a tradition and the expectation that they put in the work for championship games like this.”

Box score

Carey                           17        9      11     14 — 51

Colonel Crawford    23      24      22       8 — 77

Carey (10-9, 9-2 N10): Shots 20-40; 3-pt. shots 6-12 (Kyler Boes 2, Tripp Phoenix 2, Chase Mullholand, Carter Bame); Free throws 5-8; Rebounds 12 (Chase Stone 5); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Kyler Boes 2 0 6, Evan Kinn 3 0 6, Chase Mullholand 1 0 3, Carter Bame 1 0 3, Bekkem Sherman 0 1 1, Brayden Kitzler 2 0 4, Chase Stone 3 2 8, Tripp Phoenix 4 0 10, Dalton Roberts 3 2 8, Landyn Miller 1 0 2.

Colonel Crawford (17-1, 12-0 N10): Shots 30-66; 3-pt. shots 9-14 (Brayden Holt 6, Peyton Baker 2, Hayden Spears); Free throws 8-11; Rebounds 21 (Payne DeGray 6, John DeGray 5, Brayden Holt 5); Turnovers 4. Scoring: Peyton Baker 2 1 7, Tyler Lash 1 0 2, John DeGray 6 0 12, Brayden Holt 11 4 32, Hayden Spears 1 0 3, Payne DeGray 9 3 21.

JV: Colonel Crawford 33-27.