CRESTLINE (Crawford County Now) — It was a long time coming, but that only made it sweeter for Crestline.
For the first time in decades, the Bulldogs cut down nets as sectional champions, courtesy of their 43-27 win over Buckeye Central in their Division VII sectional final Thursday night.
“It feels great. It’s been 29 years,” Crestline coach Paul Webb said. “We finally got the monkey off our back.”
Crestline advances to the district tournament at Galion next Thursday where the opponent will be South Central (11-12), a 63-47 winner over New Riegel.
Buckeye Central threw the first punch at the history conscious Bulldogs. The Bucks built a 9-4 lead after the first quarter and if not for six turnovers, the lead could have been more.
The visitors continued to control the game, stretching the lead to 16-7 on a basket by Hunter Caudill with 2:53 to go in the half.
But the Bulldogs gave a glimpse of what was to come in the second half for the last two-plus minutes of the second quarter, going on an 8-2 run to cut their deficit to 18-15 by intermission.
“The first half, the kids followed the game plan to a T,” Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer said. “Honestly, at halftime, I was pretty worried. We gave up a 6-7 point lead the last couple minutes of the firs half and we had 16 turnovers.”
Crestline (13-10) retained the momentum coming out of the locker room for the third period. A 7-2 run to start the half gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game and they never relinquished it.
They just got comfortable. There’s been a lot of people telling us we’re going to win for a week,” Webb said. “I told them all week that Buckeye Central’s not going to allow us to win. Coach Moyer’s as good as there is. He’s had some injuries, but he is phenomenal.
“They just felt it that first quarter. They could feel that everyone said they’re going to win,” Webb continued. “They felt that pressure of basically 30 years. Finally, we settled in and started playing our brand of basketball.”
Part of that brand was sticky full court, man-to-man defense, zeroing in on Hunter Caudill.
“Ultimately, credit to coach Webb and coach (Eric) Wellman. They’re pressing us off the bus,” Moyer said. “They knew we struggle with ball handlers.
“Our decision making was pretty rough in the second half, weren’t able to get into anything,” Moyer continued. “Credit to their kids. They did a good job of hounding Hunter. Everybody knows in the county that the ball is going to Hunter with us to get us started.”
Caudill ended with 13 hard-earned points. But no one else had more than Hayden Hafner’s six. Lane Caudill gathered in eight rebounds.
The Crestline defense kept up the dizzying Bucks’ turnover rate as they finished with 31 miscues. That more than offset the 29-18 edge Buckeye Central (3-19) held on the glass.
Kody Lawhorn scored nine of his game-high 15 points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs went out to a 28-21 lead by period’s end.
“We ask Kody to do a lot. I think sometimes he can try to do too much,” Webb said. “They’re going to try to stop him and he just had to settle in and remember who he is. Once he locked in, he was good to go.”
Crestline salted the game away with free throws in the fourth quarter, hitting 11 of 14 attempts. The Bucks were three of four in the last eight minutes, but only seven of 14 for the game. BC was also limited to one field goal in the second half.
“I thought we ran out of gas there in the second half. We don’t have a real good bench,” Moyer said. “Obviously, we went full court (press) there. We had it down to six and we weren’t scoring. We couldn’t execute on the offensive end.”
Hunter Caudill hit his second 3 of the night at 4:10 to get the Bucks to within 31-25, but they only mustered two free throws from there.
Kieran Barnett seconded Lawhorn’s 15 with 11 points for Crestline. Barnett hit five of six free throws down the stretch to close the game out. Quentin Kapp had six rebounds.
“Kieran’s our leader. He’s the only guy who kind of wasn’t shellshocked,” Webb said. “He was the kind of guy that said we’re good, slow down, we’ve got this, and he kind of settled the ship.”
Moyer noted that the team missed injured brothers Jack and Alec Phillips, both seniors. Jeremiah Fishpaw, Hunter Caudill, and Cade Daniel played their last game for Buckeye Central.
“Both (Fishpaw and Caudill) were three-year starters along with Cade. He’s been a big part of the program and fought injuries,” Moyer said. “They tried to lead as best they could.”
Box score
Buckeye Central 9 9 3 6 — 27
Crestline 4 11 13 15 — 43
Buckeye Central (3-19): Shots 9-28; 3-pt. shots 2-11 (Hunter Caudill 2); Free throws 7-14; Rebounds 29 (Lane Caudill 8); Turnovers 32. Scoring: Hunter Caudill 4 3 13, Donnie Fourtner 1 1 3, Madde Alt 1 0 2, Lane Caudill 1 1 3, Hayden Hafner 2 2 6.
Crestline (13-10): Shots 13-37; 3-pt. shots 1-18 (Kody Lawhorn); Free throws 16-22; Rebounds 18 (Quentin Kapp 6); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Kody Lawhorn 7 0 15, Weston Clark 0 3 3, Kordaie Robinson 2 4 8, Kieran Barnett 2 7 11, Grady Briggs 0 2 2, Rondo Hudson 2 0 4.