BUCYRUS — According to Wynford coach Mike Smith, beating the Royals is like winning the Super Bowl for Bucyrus.
The way the game was played Saturday, it appeared to be that important to both teams.
Jaron Filliater scored a game-high 36 points for Wynford, but it took nine fourth-quarter points by sophomore Sam McMillan to allow the Royals to come away with a hard-fought 68-61 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
The Royals avenged a loss to the Redmen in the first meeting of the year back on December 17.
“It’s always the Super Bowl for Bucyrus when they beat Wynford,” Smith said. “I’m sure they were a little confident coming in here and our kids really did want to beat them today.”
The teams came in with a combined six wins, but the game obviously had far more significance to these two old rivals.
Bucyrus (3-11, 1-9 N10) opened a 14-10 lead midway through the first quarter before Wynford (4-10, 3-6) closed out the frame on an 8-3 run to go up 18-17 by period’s end.
Malachi Bayless led the Redmen with eight points in the first period, while Filliater set the tone for the night with 12 points for the Royals.
“Jaron’s a solid player. He doesn’t force anything,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “We had guys switching off of him that shouldn’t have been switching off. We can’t spell it out any clearer, we’ve got to have a guy on him. Just not having that court awareness of where he is on the court is very frustrating.”
The teams continued to trade punches in the second quarter like two heavy weight boxers. There were four ties and four lead changes throughout. When the smoke cleared, Bucyrus went to the locker room with a 37-36 advantage.
“Anytime we play, it’s always going to be a close game,” Smith said. “Very rarely is it a blowout. I don’t know the last time it’s been a blowout. They beat us by five and we beat them by seven. I’d say we’re pretty evenly matched.”
The third quarter presented issues for both teams. McMillan picked up two quick fouls — his third and fourth of the game — and he had to go to the bench.
Bucyrus lost its first half shooting touch, going three of 12 from the field. The Royals negotiated the choppy waters better, giving them the momentum back.
“We scored eight points,” Egan said of the third period. “We got great shots and we didn’t make them. Filliater got nine in the third quarter. He outscored us and that just can’t happen. We’ve got to be able to finish shots and we’ve got to be able to run better offense when it matters most.”
Wynford totaled 14 in the third quarter to open a 50-45 with eight minutes to play, with McMillan on the bench.
The Redmen righted the ship to start the fourth quarter. They used an 11-6 run — which ended on a free throw by Wise — to tie the game at 56-56 with 4:07 left.
At this point, Smith felt compelled to reenter McMillan, four fouls notwithstanding.
“We were trying to hold him out until three or four minutes in the fourth,” Smith said. “I put him back in probably a little bit early, but it worked out. Thank God I did because he got a couple of buckets we needed at the end.”
Filliater hit a 3 and McMillan scored to push the Wynford lead back to five, at 61-56, and the Redmen never recovered. McMillan scored three more baskets in a span of 34 seconds later in the quarter to keep Bucyrus at arm’s length.
“Him stepping up pretty much made the big difference down in the fourth quarter,” Egan said of McMillan. “I thought we gambled on him a couple of times when we didn’t need to. All we had to do was stay in front.”
“He was awesome going to the basket, nice cuts, we found him,” Smith said. “Ever since the Colonel Crawford game — the first game — the light has turned on for him as a sophomore. He’s either a first or second team all-league kid, I think.”
McMillan seconded Filliater’s monster 36 with 17 points for Wynford. McMillan also had 10 rebounds. Filliater was motivated by the fact that Bucyrus was in position to sweep the Royals in a season for the first time.
“We were able to prevent that,” Filliater said. “Obviously, I had a good game, but my teammates did as well. Scoring points is awesome and I love scoring points as much as the next person — especially Saturday night, coming into hostile territory. I couldn’t ask for a better way to go out.”
Bayless finished with 20 points to lead the Redmen. Wise had 14 points and Grady Jackson scored nine of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. Bayless, Wise and Eddie Dagher had six rebounds each.
Missed rebounds and missed free throws contributed heavily to Bucyrus’ failing down the stretch. The Redmen were six of 12 from the line in the fourth period and gave up three offensive rebounds after the Royals missed free throws late in the period.
“We were getting to the free throw line, but it’s just disappointing,” Egan said. “We’ve got to make those, and we didn’t. That was pretty much the game — that and easy baskets inside that we didn’t finish and not getting matched at the end really did us in.”
“I thought our kids played well at the end in big game situations,” Smith said. “A lot better than the first time we played them. The ball went our way this time.
“Good win for us,” Smith added. “It got us over last year’s total and we should have some winnable games coming up here.”
“When it really mattered for us to get rebounds, we didn’t rebound the ball,” Egan said. “A lot of the stuff we do is self-inflicted. If we clean these things up, we’re certainly a much better team. If we don’t do all these little things, it always comes back to bite us.”
Wynford won an exciting junior varsity game, 65-58. Drew Johnson led the Royals with 16 points, Spencer Miller had 14 and Weston Prenger added 11.
Noah Burke had a game-high 18 for Bucyrus, while Blayne Stewart-Barto and Kavan Combs finished with 14 each.
Box score
Wynford 18 18 14 18 — 68
Bucyrus 17 20 8 16 — 61
Wynford (4-10, 3-6 N10): Shots 28-49; 3-pt. shots 7-15 (Jaron Filliater 6, Grant McGuire); Free throws 5-14; Rebounds 28 (Sam McMillan 10); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Kohan Keith 1 0 2, Grant McGuire 1 0 3, Dylon Robinson 2 2 6, James Schiefer 2 0 4, Sam McMillan 7 3 17, Jaron Filliater 15 0 36.
Bucyrus (3-11, 1-9 N10): Shots 21-50; 3-pt. shots 5-13 (Malachi Bayless 3, Mike Wise, Joe Rager); Free throws 14-23; Rebounds 28 (Malachi Bayless 6, Mike Wise 6, Eddie Dagher 6); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Eddie Dagher 1 0 2, Joe Rager 4 0 9, Mike Wise 4 5 14, Grady Jackson 4 4 12, Jake Hamm 1 2 4, Malachi Bayless 7 3 20.
JV: Wynford 65-58.