OLIVESBURG — Songs from the 80s pop band the Thompson Twins may have been playing in the minds of the Bucyrus Redmen Friday night.
The inspiration would have been subliminal as they tried to stop — or at least contain — Crestview’s Justice Thompson, who must have seemed like twins to Bucyrus defenders.
Thompson — who set the Cougars’ career scoring record earlier this season — scored a game-high 22 points as Crestview pulled away from the Redmen, 66-44, to win their Division VI sectional title game.
“They played tough, and they outworked us,” Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis said. “The Thompson kid is good. He’s got the record for a reason. Overall, we played OK against him. But in critical moments, off rebounds in transition, he ran to the line and his teammates found him.”
Bucyrus (1-22) started fast, scoring the first four points on baskets by Georgie Floyd and Demaris Munn-Page. But Crestview (16-6) reeled of 12 straight points to answer, with Thompson accounting for seven in the skein.
The Cougars finished the period with a pair of 3-point shots and Crestview had an 18-6 lead after one.
The Cougars’ lead ballooned to 37-16 by halftime. Thompson accounted for 10 of Crestview’s points in the second quarter, but nine more came from players not named Thompson.
“A shoutout to some of their guys that played off Thompson in that first half,” Hargis said. “They made us pay from the arc. We were willing to give that up. We were kind of playing a little Russian Roulette. It was kind of anybody but Thompson beat us. They kind of both beat us.”
Hargis’ reference was primarily to Drew Spoerr, who hit two 3s in the first period and Cole Bowman who knocked down another. While Thompson finished with three 3s, his teammates accounted for five others.
The closest the Redmen got from there was 16, at 37-21, when Lincoln Blizzard and Da’Shawn Cosey started the third quarter with a 3 and two, respectively.
Crestview’s largest lead of 28 — 62-34 — came when Daniel Wells hit a 3 with 4:16 left in the game. Bucyrus played the hosts on virtually equal terms, 29-28, in the second half.
Shooting put the Redmen behind the eight ball. Though shot attempts were similar, Bucyrus hit 17 of 53 (32 percent) and the Cougars were 26 of 56 (46 percent).
“We got all the shots we expected, and we wanted,” Hargis said. “So, I can’t be mad at that. We shot below par for what we usually shoot.”
The lack of success shooting the ball led to the next issue.
“The guys start doing a little bit more on their own and we look a little fractured on offense,” Hargis said. “We didn’t move the ball the way we did all week in practice.
“It’s been the same nail in our coffin all year — defense and rebounding,” Hargis added. “Today, a little of the shot selection early hurt us. We were too happy to just concede and shoot the 3. We wanted to make them guard.”
Floyd led the Redmen with 15 points and Blizzard finished with 12 on four 3s. Munn-Page grabbed seven rebounds.
Karter Goon seconded Thompson’s 22 with 10 for Crestview and Tyler Ringler chipped in with nine. Goon had 10 rebounds. Nine different Cougars scored in all.
“I’m proud of the guys, but we played like who we are — young,” Hargis said. “We made some critical mistakes, which got their crowd into it.”
With no seniors on the roster, Hargis will have his entire group back next year. Level of success could be determined between now and November.
“The message in the (post-game) locker room was that our lack of success this season was due to our lack of preparation in the offseason,” Hargis said. “We’ve been here (at Crestview) two years in a row. I told them, ‘Do you want to come here for a third or are you going to put it together, win some more games, and maybe host a sectional?’ We lost a lot of games this year from the offseason.”
Box score
Bucyrus 6 10 14 14 — 44
Crestview 18 19 17 12 — 66
Stats
Bucyrus (1-22): Shots 17-53; 3-pt. shots 5-24 (Lincoln Blizzard 4, Georgie Floyd); Free throws 5-12; Rebounds 31 (Demaris Munn-Page 7); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Demarius Munn-Page 1 1 3, Lincoln Blizzard 4 0 12, Georgie Floyd 7 0 15, Dylan Coppler 2 3 7, Da’Shawn Cosey 3 1 7.
Crestview (16-6): Shots 26-56; 3-pt. shots 8-27 (Justice Thompson 3, Drew Spoerr 2, Daniel Wells, Carter Bowman, Cole Bowman); Free throws 6-8; Rebounds 39 (Karter Goon 10); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Tyson Ringler 3 3 9, Daniel Wells 2 0 5, Karter Goon 5 0 10, Justice Thompson 9 1 22, Drew Spoerr 2 0 8, Max Durbin 1 0 2, Carter Bowman 1 0 3, James Stevens 0 2 2, Cole Bowman 2 0 5.