WILLARD (Crawford County Now) — Preparation and execution are two key components to success in sports.

Moments after Colonel Crawford defeated Patrick Henry 68-55 to win another Division VI district championship, a sweat-soaked David Sheldon made that clear.

“Three weeks ago when we saw them come our way, an hour and 40 minutes away, we started preparing,” Sheldon said. “We practiced for them the last three weeks. Our guys have been fantastic. You saw that in the first half when we held them to 21 (points).”

The Eagles fell behind 4-0 before John DeGray scored inside and Brayden Holt drilled a 3. From there Colonel Crawford used potent inside-outside game to get the win and advance to play Northern 10 Athletic Conference rival Seneca East.

That game tips off at 6 p.m. Thursday at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center.

Holt again led the charge with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Payne DeGray added 16 and John DeGray 14. Payne DeGray snared 12 rebounds.

“(Mack) Hieber and (Reid) Creager are Division I athletes at the next level,” Sheldon said. “And they hit unbelievable shots in the second half.”

Creager led the Patriots with 24 points and Hieber netted 22, accounting for 84% of their team’s point production.

Crawford built what became an insurmountable lead at halftime, going ahead 34-21. Holt had 11 and Payne DeGray 8.

“Our preparation. First, my assistant coaches. It’s incredible the prep work they did. We drove an hour and 45 minutes to see them. Second, our scout guys, 8 through 15, did an unbelievable job to prepare us,” Sheldon said.

“Third, the guys who made it happen for 32 minutes tonight. Their focus. Our guys were locked in all night.”

Sheldon said that despite Patrick Henry being “an unbelievable offensive rebounding team, we went onto the glass in traffic and we got 50/50 balls. Those are the plays that make a difference when you get to this level. Our guys not ducking from physicality was huge tonight.”

The 6-foot-6 Hieber got just 5 boards.

In the second half the Eagles maintained a lead as high as 43-27 before the Patriots whittled it to 50-41 heading to the fourth quarter.

As usual, Crawford’s players played their roles to perfection.

“(Peyton) Baker hits some big 3s. John DeGray was unbelievable. Our two top dogs and their two top dogs were great. But John was good on defense,” Sheldon said.

“Credit to Parker Weithman guarding Creager all night. He got two fouls early and (Tyler) Lash was great coming in that first half.”

For head coach Bryan Hieber, it was a tough loss.

“We had a league championship and back-to-back 20-win seasons and getting back to the district finals. Those are things this group should be proud of.”

Missed shots turned into points on numerous trips.

“They forced us into some tough shots. They’re physical. They made things a little more difficult, but we knew that going in. Mack’s chin is split open, his ribs, who knows what’s wrong with them. We have two dominant guys, but they have a pretty good 1-2 punch on the other side,” Hieber said.

The Patriots made a couple of mild runs in the third and fourth quarters but could get no closer than 9.

At one point they got it to a 10-point margin at 60-50. But, on cue, Holt hit a 3 and then went to work at the foul line to secure the game. The all-Ohioan sank 13-of-16 from the charity stripe, including 6-of-8 in the final frame.

Holt echoed his coach’s mantra of preparation.

“They chose to come here and play us, and we took that with some regard. We took that as motivation. We made an effort to get stops,” he said. “They got some buckets in the third quarter, but we took care of it.”

There is strong familiarity playing at Robert L. Haas Gymnasium.

“Absolutely. You’ve got other fans from the local area cheering you on because you’re the local team. They brought a good crowd too, and you could tell the energy was picking up on our side.”

Holt credited the team effort and said he knows the next opponent is one that will be prepared.

“Proud of this group. That’s a daggone good basketball team. They got four losses and that’s misleading because Creager was out for 6 games and those were 3 of their losses,” Sheldon said.

“A great win and we’re happy to move on to play next Thursday.”

Having beaten the Tigers twice is little solace, however.

“Seneca East is a good basketball team. We had a dog fight and were down against them. They’re playing with confidence. Anyone who gets to a Sweet 16 is a good team,” Sheldon said.

Box score

Patrick Henry           13       8      20     14 — 55

Colonel Crawford    17     17      16     18 — 68

Patrick Henry (20-5): Shots 20-47; 3-pt. shots 10-30 (Reid Creager 5, Mack Hieber 3, Calvin Schroeder 2); Free throws 5-7; Rebounds 14 (Reid Creager 6); Turnovers 4. Scoring: Reid Creager 9 1 24, Mack Hieber 8 3 22, Calvin Schroeder 3 1 9.

Colonel Crawford (22-2): Shots 21-32; 3-pt. shots 6-12 (Peyton Baker 3, Brayden Holt 3); Free throws 20-33; Rebounds 31 (Brayden Holt 13, Payne DeGray 12); Turnovers 4. Scoring: Parker Weithman 0 1 1, Peyton Baker 3 0 9, John DeGray 6 2 14, Brayden Holt 6 13 28, Payne DeGray 6 4 16.