CAREY — With the late start to the season, Carey coach Jamie Young was understandably concerned about how his team would perform.
Young’s anxiety was laid to rest. In their first game of the year, the Blue Devils jumped out to a 12-point first-quarter lead and cruised to a 68-35 Northern 10 Athletic Conference over Bucyrus.
“I was just concerned with the lack of reps offensively, especially,” Young said of the delayed start. “I knew defensively — that’s kind of what we hang our hat on — and I knew we would be able to play defense.”
Carey was just beginning the basketball season because the football team won a state championship a few weeks ago.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, especially in the first half,” Young said. “The foul line wasn’t the kindest to us. Sone of those kids hadn’t touched a basketball since July. It’s a great problem to have, don’t get me wrong. A state championship is well worth it.”
The Blue Devils looked to be in midseason form, reeling off the first nine points of the game, as the Redmen missed their first seven shots. To Young’s point, Carey did not shoot especially well, but rebounding was superb. The hosts had 19 rebounds in the first quarter and 10 of them were offensive boards.
Bucyrus (2-4, 1-4 N10) finally got its first points on a pair of free throws by Grady Jackson. The Redmen didn’t hit their first field goal until Joe Rager hit a shot with 36 seconds left in the opening frame. Bucyrus was one of 13 in the first period.
“We got off to another exceptionally slow start,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “And we can turn the ball over 12 times in the first half. If you turn it over with them, they’re going to finish, and they did.”
Four more offensive rebounds helped fuel the second quarter for the Blue Devils. Jordan Vallejo came off the bench to score six of his game-high 14 points. Vallejo was the 260-pound running back that spearheaded the state championship run. Carey led, 29-12 at halftime.
“A lot of people don’t know this about Jordan, but he was a guard growing up and a running back,” Young said. “What he’s doing isn’t different for him. He just got bigger.”
The Redmen finally got the offense going a little in the third quarter and nearly climbed back into the game. They went on an 11-4 run over the first four-and-a-half minutes, capped by a 3-point shot by Mike Wise, to get back to within 33-23. But those were the last points Bucyrus scored in the frame and the Blue Devils stretched it back out to 40-23 by period’s end.
“We came back and certainly cut it to 10 in the third quarter and then we just went back to not playing fundamentally sound basketball,” Egan said. “We’ve got to find a way to fix it and the only way to do that is by getting back into the gym and start over again.”
Carey exploded offensively in the fourth quarter in the final quarter, hitting 12 of 19 shots. For the game, the Blue Devils were 30 of 74, though, as Young alluded to, they were only two of 12 from the free throw line.
Bucyrus was five of 18 in the last period and ended 15 of 56.
“We know they like to — Malachi (Bayless) especially — leak out early on the break,” Young said. “We had somebody assigned to him. A couple of times, he almost got loose but we did a great job recovering. We have really great athletes.”
Anthony Bell seconded Vallejo’s 14 points with 10 for the Blue Devils. Ten different Carey players scored. Ashton Hill grabbed 10 of his team’s 52 rebounds.
Wise led Bucyrus with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Jackson added nine points.
“That’s a credit to their kids,” Egan said of the outcome. “They came out and played very well. Jamie does a wonderful job. It certainly means we’ve got to try to get better.
“They have a very complete basketball team that’s going to be a tough out the rest of the year,” Egan added. “They’re going to be some up in the league — a deep team, a veteran team.”
Carey also won the junior varsity game, 56-34. Carter Smiley had 10 points to lead the Blue Devils. Blayne Stewart-Barto had 12 points for Bucyrus.
Box score
Bucyrus 4 8 11 12 — 35
Carey 16 13 11 28 — 68
Bucyrus (2-4, 1-4 N10): Shots 15-52; 3-pt. shots 312 (Mike Wise, Grady Jackson, Kolton Middleton); Free throws 2-3; Rebounds 36 (Mike Wise 12); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Joe Rager 4 0 8, Mike Wise 5 0 11, Grady Jackson 3 2 9, Kolton Middleton 1 0 3, Malachi Bayless 2 0 4.
Carey (1-0, 10 N10): Shots 30-74; 3-pt. shots 6-19 (Bryce Young 2, Brayden Young 2, Alexander Putnam, Anthony Bell); Free throws 2-12; Rebounds 52 (Ashton Hill 10); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Alexander Putnam 3 0 7, Derek Lonsway 1 0 2, Bryce Conti 4 0 8, Anthony Bell 4 1 10, Bryce Young 2 0 6, Ashton Hill 3 0 6, Landen Kemerley 3 0 6, E.J. Boes 1 0 2, Brayden Young 2 1 7, Jordan Vallejo 7 0 14.
JV: Carey 56-34.