OLIVESBURG — Crestline head coach Tyler Sanders doesn’t mind winning a little ugly. In fact, the Bulldogs have made it a familiar occurrence this season.

“I told them in the locker room, we never win pretty. We kind of compare it to Crestline. When you come into each side of Crestline you got a couple of junk yards and you’re like … then when you get in the middle of town it’s a beautiful town,” he said.

Crestline (14-8) topped Norwalk St. Paul (6-17) 61-54 in a Division IV sectional semifinal game at Crestview High School.

“In the beginning we start out a little rough. In the middle we finally calm down and it looks really good. Then in the end we always let them back in and it gets rough again.”True to form, Crestline took a 13-12 lead after one quarter and 27-22 at halftime. But the Flyers kept coming back.

“I felt like our offense was a little more consistent than it has been. Outside of turning the basketball over, we got really good looks at the rim when we moved the ball from one side of the floor to the other,” Sanders said.Despite the win, the Bulldogs committed 15 turnovers.

Lucas Cochran came off the bench and scored 14 points. Teammates Isaiah Perry added 14, Josh Hall and Conner Lusk 11 each and R.J. Johnston 10 in a balanced scoring attack.

“We see how amazing of a basketball player Lucas is when he gets going,” Sanders said of his 6-3 senior post.

“He knows he had some turnovers, and he has to get that cleaned up. He has to allow the game to come to him. Once he calmed down and slowed down, he was the best player on the floor.”

Hall, a 6-0 senior, grabbed nine rebounds.

“Last year Josh led the team in rebounding. This year R.J. (Johnston) has kind of taken over that role, but Josh is still rebounding the ball well.”

Hall was assigned to help contain Kayden Maxwell, who at 6-4 is a tough assignment.

“Josh’s job tonight was to help out on Maxwell and make sure the big guy got boxed out, and he did a great job of it,” Sanders said. “We appreciate him executing his duties tonight.”

Maxwell was held to 5 points and a handful of boards. Michael Kirk led the way for St. Paul with 14 markers.

Crestline pulled ahead at 40-30 late in the third period after Perry and Cochran scored.

The lead swelled to 51-38 midway through the final period when Cochran and Lusk hit back-to-back baskets.

With the win, No. 5 seed Crestline advances to Friday night against 4th-seeded Monroeville. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. at the same site.

The winner of that game advances to Willard on March 1.

“At the end of the day we find a way to win and I’m proud of the boys,” Sanders said. “We’re a good basketball team. We’re gonna go out and play our game and hopefully when we get to the end of the game, the score has us for more than them.”

Box score

Crestline    13     14     15     19 — 61

St. Paul       12     10     12     20 — 54

Stats

Crestline: (14-8): Shots 21-62; 3-pt. shots 5-13 (Josh Hall 2, R.J. Johnston 2, Conner Lusk); Free throws 14-24; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 19. Scoring: Connor Lusk 5 0 11, R.J. Johnston 3 2 10, Trevor Shade 0 2 2, Isaiah Perry 3 7 13, Josh Hall 4 1 11, Lucas Cochran 6 2 14.

St. Paul (6-17): Shots 21-54; 3-pt. shots 5-8 (Michael Kirk 4, Ian Deeter); Free throws 7-15; Rebounds 12; Turnovers 17. Scoring: Michael Kirk 5 0 14, Eli Fisher 2 1 5, Drew Kuhnle 1 0 2, Kaden Maxwell 2 1 5, Ben Burger 3 0 6, Ian Deeter 2 0 5, Evan Wagner 2 1 5, Travis Herner 4 4 12.