By Dan Messerschmidt
BUCYRUS — It was senior night at Bucyrus and four Redmen were slated to play their last game at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
Of the four, only one — Ryan Evans —stepped on the floor in uniform. And Bucyrus coach Justin Mattix was glad he did.
Evans scored a game-high 18 points to lead four Redmen in double figures as Bucyrus outran Ridgedale, 76-63, in the final Northern 10 Conference and regular season game for both teams.
“Ryan played well,” Mattix said. “All things considered, we were on an 11-game losing streak and his shot had been off. But credit to him, he worked on his shot to get it back.”
Evans hit four 3-pointers — his signature shot — with what would be his final one at Kish turning into a 4-point play, helping to defuse a Rockets’ comeback.
Bucyrus (3-19, 2-14 N10) never trailed and Ridgedale (2-20, 0-16) only tied the game once, at 5-5, on a 3 by Adam Beard at the 5:24 mark of the first quarter. But neither were the Rockets ever far away.
“In the first half, we gave up too many offensive rebounds,” Ridgedale coach Nathon Loney said. “We didn’t make many good decisions with the basketball. Our young kids tried to make everything happen on one play.”
Still, the Rockets trailed only 22-19 after one. Sophomore Lucas Kozinski scored eight of his 17 points in the opening frame to lead Bucyrus. Lucas Mattix scored all six of his points to keep Ridgedale close.
“The first quarter was 22-19,” Coach Mattix said. “There is no way we should be up only three points when we score 22.”
A 15-10 advantage in the second quarter gave the Redmen a little more cushion as they went to the locker room with a 37-29 lead.
The Bucyrus lead stayed between seven and 14 points over the course of the third quarter, with the Redmen holding a 12-point advantage, 51-39, by period’s end.
The Redmen opened a 62-46 lead over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, but Ridgedale kept coming. The Rockets went on a 10-0 run, seven coming from Ashton Bigler, to cut the deficit to 62-56 with 2:43 to play.
“One thing people will find out,” Loney said. “That’s how we play. We like to get up and down the floor. We’re volume shooters. I’d rather take 30 shots and make 10 than 15 shots and make five.”
Ridgedale put up 60 shots for the game, connecting on 22.
However, Bucyrus was equal to the task. The Redmen hit eight of nine free throws and their last three shots from the field to pull away to the victory.
“We finally overcame our mistakes,” Mattix said. “We knew they were weak (defensively) in the middle and we wanted to get the ball there. Tonight, we didn’t have to tell the guys to get it into the paint.”
Besides Evans’ 18 points and Kozinski’s 17, Mattix got 15 from Harley Robinson and Kyle Hamm added 11. Kozinski added 14 rebounds and Ben Seibert grabbed seven boards.
Senior Gram Dick did not play due to injury and classmates Kade Slagle and Derek Heinlen were sidelined with illness.
Bigler topped Ridgedale with 15 points and Austin Price chipped in with 13. Nine Rockets scored in all. Franklin Lofton pulled down five rebounds.
“We are very young,” Loney said. “Our two best shooters are freshmen. It’s tough, especially when the shots aren’t falling.”
“Jaylen (Zehner), Ben (Seibert) and Dylan (Goff) all played well,” Mattix said. “They didn’t score a lot of points, but they did other things. And Hammy (Kyle Hamm) made moves in the post. It was a team effort.
“But we need to get the defense ready for a good Western Reserve team,” Mattix said of his team’s tournament opponent. “They have some good guards who can score.”
Ridgedale 19 10 10 24 — 63
Bucyrus 22 15 14 25 — 76
Ridgedale: (2-20, 0-16 N10): Shots 22-60; 3-pt. shots 2-17 (Ashton Bigler, Adam Beard); Free throws 17-30; Rebounds 34 (Franklin Lofton 5); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Clayton Lust 2 2 6, Lucas Mattix 2 2 6, Ashton Bigler 5 4 15, Sam Leach 2 2 6, Adam Beard 2 0 5, Conner Lust 1 4 6, Austin Price 6 1 13, Michael Burns 1 0 2, Franklin Lofton 1 2 4.
Bucyrus: (3-19, 2-14 N10): Shots 26-55; 3-pt. shots 6-18 (Ryan Evans 4, Lucas Kozinski, Harley Robinson); Free throws 18-22; Rebounds 41 (Lucas Kozinski 14, Ben Seibert 7); Turnovers 19. Scoring: Harley Robinson 5 4 15, Jaylen Zehner 3 1 7, Ben Seibert 1 0 2, Ryan Evans 5 4 18, Lucas Kozinski 5 6 17, Trevor Ley 1 0 2, Dylan Goff 1 2 4, Kyle Hamm 5 1 11.
Twitter: @TF_Schmidt
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