NEW WASHINGTON — The first victory of the season for Bucyrus didn’t come in the way many would have thought.
But it was like a storm in the desert for the Redmen, regardless of how it came about.
Freshman Joe Rager scored a personal high 19 points — a Bucyrus freshman record — and Bucyrus overcame an 11-point third-quarter deficit, to overtake Buckeye Central, 59-56, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
“It’s a big win for our kids,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “After going out and getting shellacked by a few teams and playing well for six minutes at a stretch, being able to string a 32-minute game together, being down 11 and fighting back — these kids stay together, they’re playing together, they don’t whine, they don’t complain. They just come in and try to do the best they can, and I just couldn’t be happier for them.”
On the other side, it was one that got away for the Bucks.
“It was a tough loss,” Buckeye Central coach Eric Picklesimer said. “But credit Bucyrus. They knocked down shots, they turned us over 15-16 times. Our guys didn’t respond the way we need to to win.”
The Redmen, in fact, shot 42 percent from the field but also hit 15 of 19 free throws. They also limited their own turnovers to seven.
The unlikely hero, Rager, did not really make his presence felt in the first half, scoring just three points. Nick Middleton carried the scoring load in the first two quarters, scoring 10 of his 18 points.
Both Rager and Middleton, along with Mike Wise who scored 11 points in the game, took advantage of the Bucks’ determination to limit Redmen leading scorer, Lucas Kozinski, who finished with nine points.
“We told our kids you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” Egan said. “You’ve got to shoot the ball if you’re open. Our goal is to get 10 guys on the team who can shoot the ball, handle the ball and pass the ball. We’re not there at this point, but we’re trying to get there and hopefully we will get there. It makes the game a lot easier when you get guys who can put it in the basket.
“We defended (Kozinski) real well,” Picklesimer said. “We were concerned because he was a shooter. We put our big guy on him and Jake (Heefner) did a good of defending him. We attacked him down low when we had the chance.”
Bucyrus (1-10, 1-6 N10) eased out to a 16-11 lead after one period, but Buckeye Central (2-8, 1-5) used a 10-2 run to start the second quarter to gain the lead at 21-18 and held on for a 26-24 advantage by intermission.
The Bucks were able to use their size advantage in the post to storm back. Brady Kerschner scored seven of his team-high 17 points in the second quarter.
“They’re a well-drilled team,” Egan said of the Bucks. “They know exactly where they want to go with the ball. It wasn’t a surprise to us because Eric does a very good job, he’s a really good coach.”
Buckeye Central seemed poised to take control of the game in the third quarter. The Bucks expanded their two-point halftime lead to 44-33 on a 3-point shot by Nick Ramey with 2:15 left in the frame.
Whatever Egan said during the subsequent Bucyrus timeout was magical. The Redmen wisely spent the final two minutes to shrink the deficit to a more manageable 46-41 by period’s end.
Buckeye Central still led by eight, at 54-46 on a basket by Ramey with 5:01 left. But it was all Bucyrus from there. The Bucks hit just one field goal the rest of the game.
Bucyrus chipped away before finally taking the lead on a 3 by Kozinski at the 1:47 mark. The Redmen were also six of eight from the line down the stretch to seal the win.
“We wanted to keep going inside, we wanted to keep pounding it inside,” Picklesimer said. “We got a little impatient and forced some shots, got away from our game plan. We didn’t execute very well.”
Alex Kanney had 10 points for Buckeye Central to second Kerschner’s 17. Ramey finished with eight. Kerschner had 12 rebounds.
Rager’s game-high 19 points included three 3s and six of seven from the line. Middleton’s 18 was a season high and he and Wise each grabbed nine rebounds.
“I was just trying to win,” a modest Rager said of his feat. “We got our first win of the season. (Other guys) attention from the defense helps me open up and knock down shots.”
“He’s a freshman. We did a poor job of finding him in transition,” Picklesimer said of Rager. “We’ve seen him play a few times. We knew he could shoot the ball. When you don’t defend him, he’s going to knock those down.
“Joe had a great game,” Picklesimer added. “We tried to push him left a little bit. We didn’t do a good job of that.”
“I thought Grady (Jackson) was excellent defensively on their guards,” Egan said. “They didn’t want to dribble the ball around him.”
Buckeye Central got a split on the night with a 50-42 win in the junior varsity game. Casey Geissman had a game-high 18 points for the Bucks and Logan Niese added 10
Eddie Dagher had nine points for Bucyrus, while Karson Kimmel and Kolton Middleton finished with seven each.
Box score
Bucyrus 16 8 17 18 — 59
Buckeye Central 11 15 20 10 — 56
Bucyrus (1-10, 1-6 N10): Shots 20-48; 3-pt. shots 4-18 (Joe Rager 3, Lucas Kozinski); Free throws 15-19; Rebounds 27 (Mike Wise 9, Nick Middleton 9); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Lucas Kozinski 4 0 9, Joe Rager 5 6 19, Mike Wise 4 3 11, Grady Jackson 1 0 2, Nick Middleton 6 6 18.
Buckeye Central (2-8, 1-5 N10): Shots 22-53; 3-pt. shots 4-18 (Nick Ramey 2, Alex Kanney, Tyler Rose); Free throws 8-10; Rebounds 34 (Brady Kerschner 12); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Aiden McDougal 2 0 4, Tyler Rose 2 2 7, Alex Kanney 3 3 10, Brady Kerschner 7 3 17, Jake Heefner 3 0 6, Damian Dean 2 0 4, Nick Ramey 3 0 8.
JV: Buckeye Central 50-42.