MONROEVILLE — Bucyrus played toe-to-toe with Northwood in the second half.
Unfortunately, a poor shooting first half dug the Redmen a hole too deep to climb from.
The Rangers used the momentum from a 11-2 start to build a 21-point halftime lead, then held off Bucyrus, 66-47, in the Division III boys’ sectional semifinal at Monroeville High School.
Northwood (7-16) will face Huron — a 64-43 winner over Millbury Lake in the first game of the night — on Friday for the sectional title.
“The first half was by far the best we’ve played all year,” Northwood coach Brandon Thomas said. “All hose practices, all those 16 losses, led up to that first half for us.”
After the slow start, Bucyrus (6-17) outscored the Rangers 6-3 the rest of the first quarter to ease the deficit, trailing 14-8, after one.
However, the second quarter was nightmarish for the Redmen. Northwood outscored Bucyrus, 21-6, in the frame, with 17 of the points coming in a flurry in the final 3:12 before the half.
Transition baskets were key to the Rangers’ offense throughout, along with 3-point shooting.
“That’s exactly how we play. We want to be transition first,” Thompson said. “We want to penetrate and kick. We have small guards who shoot the ball pretty well. So, that is our first option and then in the half-court, we want to be a little more disciplined and try to take great shots.”
The Redmen hit just seven of 29 shots in the first two quarters, while Northwood was 13 of 29. In the second half, the Bucyrus offense got back closer to normal, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
I believe we had seven straight stops in the third quarter, we just didn’t convert,” Bucyrus coach Scott Gifford said. “We totally did whatever we wanted. We fouled their 3-point shooter (Ethan Clair) and he gets three free throws and that’s all the points they had (in the first five-plus minutes of the second half).”
Seven of 13 shooting allowed the Redmen to trim the Rangers’ lead from 21 to 14 by the end of the quarter.
“We came out in the third quarter great,” Gifford said. “Our transition got us to the basket, but we weren’t finishing (consistently), which is uncharacteristic of us. I was disappointed in that.”
The closest Bucyrus got in the fourth quarter was 13, at 60-47, with 1:40 left in the game on a basket by Randy Banks.
The big nemesis for the Redman was sophomore Brandon Clair, who scored a game-high 22 points, most of them on layups in transition.
“He’s been coming on late because he is so young,” Thompson said. “So, watching him grow into that role has been wonderful for us. And a lot of our guys are juniors, so we’re getting a lot of these guys back next year.”
“We didn’t find him,” Gifford said of Clair. “He got layups. Good for him for making the layups. But we didn’t get back, that’s all there is to it. We didn’t get back; we didn’t find him.”
Ethan Clair had 19 points in support of Brandon — including three 3s — and Kaden Cluckey finished with 15. Mason Smith grabbed 10 of Northwood’s 32 rebounds.
Malachi Bayless led the Redmen with 15 points and Banks added 13 points and 11 boards.
Despite Bayless’ 15, Thompson thought his team did a good defensive job on him.
“He was the star on film” Thompson noted. “We said, ‘Wherever he goes, we have to have somebody in his face.’ I heard he had a game of 44 points this year. He can play. We were worried about him and No. 14 (Kavan Combs). We were very cognizant of the players we had to stop on their team.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do this summer,” Gifford said. “Our guys have got to work hard. They’ve got to become shooters; they’ve got to be able to dribble with confidence. They’ve got to get better if we want to have the season next year that we can have. We’ve got everybody back, minus two (Banks and Brock Frost). If we want to have a good season next year, it literally starts tomorrow.”
“We’re in the TAAC (Toledo Area Athletic Conference), which is one of the toughest conferences in our area,” Thompson said. “Having to face that competition night in and night out, I think, prepares us for game like this in the tournament.”
Thompson is looking forward to the game with No. 3 seeded Huron on Friday.
“We’re small and they’re huge” Thompson said. “But we’re going to fight. We earned the right to play for a sectional championship. The last time our school won a sectional championship was 21 years ago. So, to win that game is a blessing.”
Gifford realizes the program will have a hole with his two seniors departing, even though he is optimistic about the future.
“Randy came out (late) and helped us and I thank him for that,” Gifford said. “Brock had senior leadership. Nobody in that locker room cares more about Bucyrus basketball than Brock. We’re going to miss both of them.”
Box score
Bucyrus 8 6 18 15 — 47
Northwood 14 21 11 20 — 66
Stats
Bucyrus (6-17): Shots 20-56; 3-pt. shots 2-11 (Malachi Bayless, Kam Lewis); Free throws 5-6; Rebounds 36 (Randy Banks 11); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Kam Lewis 1 0 3, Noah Burke 4 0 8, Kavan Combs 3 0 6, Dylan Coppler 1 0 2, Malachi Bayless 6 2 15, Randy Banks 6 1 13.
Northwood (7-16): Shots 25-54; 3-pt. shots 3-9 (Ethan Clair 3); Free throws 13-17; Rebounds 32 (Mason Smith 10); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Brandon Clair 11 0 22, Kaden Cluckey 6 3 15, Ethan Clair 5 6 19, Thomas McCrory 1 0 2, Mason Smith 0 2 2, Adam Schroeder 2 2 6.