BUCYRUS — It was senior night, and the Bucyrus Redmen were without a win in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
The energy of the evening helped change all that.
A 16-point third quarter erased a five-point halftime deficit as the Redmen rallied to beat Buckeye Central, 51-44, at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
It avenged a 67-53 loss at Buckeye Central in December.
“It was huge,” Bucyrus coach Scott Gifford said of the win. “We’ve been battling all season. In this league, obviously, that we play in, the teams are amazing. So, it’s not lack of effort, it’s not lack of trying. We’ve been outgunned a little bit.”
Bucyrus (5-15, 1-12 N10) seemed to turn the game into a rout early on, blowing out to a 20-7 first-quarter lead. Malachi Bayless led the way with 12 of his game-high 24 points coming in the frame.
But Buckeye Central (6-14, 2-11) had other ideas and soon seized the momentum. The Bucks went on an 18-4 run to start the period to grab the lead at 25-24 on a basket by Tyler Sanderson, who scored all 12 of his team-high 12 points in the second quarter.
With momentum on its side, BC registered five more points on the run to end the half with a 29-24 lead.
Unfortunately for the Bucks, they couldn’t sustain it.
“We held our composure,” Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell said of the second-quarter comeback. “We probably lost it a little bit in the second half. I don’t know how many stinking shots in the paint we missed. It was a lot.”
The Bucks hit just four of 12 shots in the third quarter and the Redmen converted seven of 14, allowing Bucyrus to regain the lead at 40-39 on a basket by Noah Burke just before the buzzer.
“I talked to Malachi before the game and I said, ‘I know you just tied the school (single-game scoring) record (44), but you’ve got to calm down a little bit and let the offense run,” Gifford said. “We made adjustments, and the kids came out and ran the offense we’ve been practicing forever and it finally clicked for them and they saw the results. Malachi was patient, just a complete team effort tonight.”
The free throw line was friendly to the Redmen in the fourth quarter as they needed it to fend of the pesky Bucks. Bucyrus was nine of 11 from the stripe in the last eight minutes, as BC was a close as 46-44 with just under a minute on a basket by Dom Dean.
Randy Banks, Blayne Barto, and Bayless combined to make five of six free tosses in the final 40 seconds to ease out to the win. Kam Lewis was four -of-four from the line earlier in the quarter.
“We were getting decent looks,” Howell said. “I give (Bucyrus) a lot of credit. They did what they had to do. They have a pretty nice player out there that make everybody else better.
“They finished the game, and we didn’t,” Howell added. “They made free throws. We tried not to foul Malachi, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.”
“We know we had the bonus, so we were trying to get to the rim,” Gifford said of the fourth quarter. “We went to our offense that gets us to the rim and the kids had to make the one-and-ones and bonus twos and they did. They haven’t been in that situation a lot, so kudos to them for making them against a very good Buckeye Central team.”
Jack Phillips seconded Sanderson’s 12 with 11 points for the Bucks and Manny Mullins finished with eight. Dean had 12 rebounds.
Following Bayless’ 24, Burke added eight points and seven rebounds. Lewis and Barto had six points apiece.
“Unforced turnovers — a lot of our passes got deflected and you’ve got to give them credit,” Howell said. “That’s what they want to do. They’re very athletic kids. They get out in the passing lanes; they jumped the passing lanes. They’re getting their hands on the ball and they can score in transition.
“We just couldn’t finish it,” Howell added. “They just made plays and we didn’t. We just couldn’t make shots when we needed to.”
Banks and Brock Frost played their last game at the Kish.
“For our seniors to get a win on their home court — they haven’t beat Buckeye Central since, I believe, their freshman year — and for them to get a win on senior night, their last night here, I’m so happy for them,” Gifford said. “I told them at halftime, ‘Let’s make the sure pass, cut down on the flash and get some substance.’ They did it and that’s probably the best half of basketball we’ve played all season.”
Buckeye Central won the junior varsity game, 48-37. Corbin Bloomfield had a game-high 26 points for the Bucks and Devin Siefert had 10. Christian Neale had 14 points for Bucyrus and Demaris Munn-Page finished with 11.
Box score
Buckeye Central 7 22 10 5 — 44
Bucyrus 20 4 16 11 — 51
Stats
Buckeye Central (6-14, 2-11 N10): Shots 15-43; 3-pt. shots 5-15 (Jack Phillips 3, Drew Rose, Manny Mullins); Free throws 9-15; Rebounds 34 (Dom Dean 12); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Drew Rose 2 0 5, Heath Jensen 1 0 2, Tyler Sanderson 4 4 12, Dom Dean 1 4 6, Jack Phillips 4 0 11, Manny Mullins 3 1 8.
Bucyrus (5-15, 1-12 N10): Shots 18-42; 3-pt. shots 2-10 (Malachi Bayless 2); Free throws 7-14; Rebounds 30 (Noah Burke 7); Turnovers 21. Scoring: Kam Lewis 1 4 6, Blayne Barto 2 2 6, Noah Burke 4 0 8, Kavan Combs 1 0 2, Malachi Bayless 8 6 24, Randy Banks 2 1 5.
JV: Buckeye Central 48-37.