RIDGEDALE — Rematches can be a mixed bag, especially when the teams involved are evenly matched.

Bucyrus managed to go to Ridgedale and essentially repeat what it had done in the first meeting.

The Redmen overcame a four-point deficit in the second quarter to take a 26-19 lead at halftime, then held off several Rocket rallies to win, 51-46. Bucyrus (3-7) took the first meeting, 59-53, back on November 29.

“It seems to be the story all year long,” Ridgedale coach Mike Mathey said. “We’re in these games and play people tough. We just come out on the wrong side of them too many times.”

Five Rockets’ losses have been by eight points or fewer.

“Ridgedale — they were a tough match for us, with Alec (Gordon) and Luke (Strine),” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “We were able to make some plays down the stretch that really helped us. It’s a learning (curve). But hey, it’s a win and we’re not going to apologize any way we can get one.”

Instrumental in the Redmen being able to hold off the Rockets was senior Grady Jackson, who scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter.

“(Jackson) has a nice little mid-range game,” Mathey said. “He hurt us real bad down the stretch. They played well enough to win, and we didn’t tonight.”

“Credit our guys for getting him the ball in a key situation and it was great execution with Grady,” Egan said. “For everybody getting him the ball where it needed to be — that could have been any one of the guys on the floor at the time. And (Ridgedale) just happened to overplay on Grady and he was able to take them and finish at the end.”

After a back-and-forth start early in the first quarter, Ridgedale (1-10) looked to charge of the game. With baskets on consecutive possessions by Kaden Lester gave the Rockets a 10-9 lead. Ridgedale led 12-11 after one.

The momentum continued into the second period with the Rockets leading by as many as four. Bucyrus finally tied the game at 19-19 on a basket by Joe Rager amid an 11-0 run to halftime that gave the Redmen a 26-19. They never trailed again.

Egan credited his defense for keeping the lead.

“A couple of times we turned it (over),” Egan said. “We sprinted back and got matched real well.”

The Redmen led by as many as eight, at 33-25, midway through the third quarter. But the Rockets trimmed the deficit to 37-33 by period’s end. Ridgedale got within one, at 39-38 with 5:02 remaining in the fourth quarter but could never regain the lead.

“Give them credit. I think they made plays down the stretch,” Mathey said. “We had our chances. They made more shots when it mattered.”

Lester led the Rockets with 19 points and Strine finished with 10. Nathan Thiel had 12 rebounds.

Malachi Bayless had 15 points to second Jackson’s 22 for Bucyrus. Mike Wise and Jake Hamm had eight boards apiece.

“We got great shots,” Egan said. “We got things in the key and our shot chart looks really good. The second half we did a better job of finishing and that was key for us.”

One glaring weakness for the Rockets was free throw shooting. They were five of 11 from the line to just two of three for the Redmen.

“We’re not a good free throw shooting team. It’s been that way all year long,” Mathey said. “Kids practice them in practice but there’s a difference between game and practice. We’ve just got to step up and start knocking them down as a team.

“We played well in flashes,” he added. “We’ve just got to be able to put it together for four quarters.”

“We obviously have a lot of room for improvement,” Egan said. “We have to get ready for a real tough game (at Mohawk) on Friday. Hopefully, this is going to be a springboard to help us out on down the stretch here.”

Bucyrus made it a sweep on the night with a 49-36 win in the junior varsity game. Noah Burke led the Redmen with 14 point, Blayne Stewart-Barto had 12 and Kavan Combs added 10.

Caiden Daniel had 14 points for Ridgedale and Gage Gleespen finished with 10.

Box score

Bucyrus        11     15      11       14 — 51

Ridgedale    12       7      14       13 — 46

Bucyrus (3-7): Shots 23-54; 3-pt. shots 3-8 (Malachi Bayless 3); Free throws 2-3; Rebounds 35 (Mike Wise 8, Jake Hamm 8); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Eddie Dagher 1 0 2, Joe Rager 3 0 6, Mike Wise 1 0 2, Grady Jackson 10 2 22, Jake Hamm 2 0 4, Malachi Bayless 6 0 15.

Ridgedale (1-10): Shots 19-53; 3-pt. shots 3-9 (Kaden Lester 2, Landon Murphy); Free throws 5-11; Rebounds 35 (Nathan Thiel 12); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Landon Murphy 2 0 5, Kaden Lester 8 1 19, Luke Strine 5 0 10, Nathan Thiel 1 2 4, Alec Gordon 3 2 8.

JV: Bucyrus 49-36.