NEW WASHINGTON — It was senior night at Buckeye Central and the Bucks played like it was.

A victory meant going out on a winning note on their home court, it avenged a loss to Bucyrus in their first meeting and the loser would be in last place in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.

Buckeye Central held the Redmen to nine points in the middle two quarters then withstood a Bucyrus fourth-quarter rally to win, 56-49.

“Tonight, we definitely played better than we did the first time,” Buckeye Central coach Eric Picklesimer said. “We defended them better, I think. We held them to three points in the second quarter and (six) points in the third. The third quarter has been our hassle all season.”

“It was their senior night,” Bucyrus coach Justin Mattix said. “They had a lot to play for in the sense that whoever lost this game got last place (in the N10).”

It was Bucyrus (3-17, 3-12 N10) that looked to take control early. Five different Redmen scored in the first quarter as they grabbed a 15-11 lead by period’s end.

Enter Brady Biglin, the senior who threw the Bucks on his back and refused to let his team lose. Biglin rained in four 3-point shots in the first half — six for the game — and scored a team-high 24 points. Half his points came in the pivotal fourth quarter.

“Any time (Brady’s) shooting it well, he puts us in a position to win, and he came out and hit a lot of big shots,” Picklesimer said. “We need him to score for us if we are going to be competitors.”

For Buckeye Central (5-15, 4-11), defense was a good tag team partner for Biglin. The Bucks harassed the Redmen into one of 12 shooting from the field in the second quarter and two of 10 in the third as BC expanded a 21-18 halftime lead to 34-24 after three.

“We don’t know how to react to different defenses, we don’t know how to react to pressure,” They are capable of pressuring the guards, which completely erases any post presence you have.”

The fourth quarter was decidedly different from the first three. Bucyrus scored 25 points — more than it did in the first three combined. After trailing by as many as 14 early in the final period, the Redmen managed to cut the deficit to six twice, at 48-42 on a 3 by Dylan Goff with 1:41 left and again at 50-44, on a basket by Harley Robinson-Koge with 1:12 remaining.

But Biglin score 12 of his team’s 22 points in the final eight minutes, including a three-point play with 59 seconds left to seal it for the Bucks.

“Credit to the kids. They came out and got after it and knocked down free throws when they had to,” Picklesimer said. “That and-one that Brady finished, that was a momentum swing, cause (the Redmen) were making everything right there at the end.”

Buckeye Central was 14 of 18 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter alone and 17 of 24 for the game. Senior Darren Wurm seconded Biglin with 11 points. Senior Mason Stahl grabbed seven rebounds. Adam Krebs was the other senior to play his last home game.

“In the first half, you can try to make up for your mistakes,” Mattix said. “Second half, the window for error shrinks and you just can’t have mistakes.

“Credit to them,” Mattix continued. “They got into a rhythm early. The Biglin kid hit four 3s. He stepped up big for them in the first half and ended with 24.”

Jaylen Zehner led Bucyrus with 14 points and Robinson-Koge added 13. Kyle Hamm pulled down 12 rebounds.

“These guys knew it was their last hurrah, the last time they play at Buckeye Central,” Picklesimer said. “They take that personally, they had a little attitude. Senior night definitely helped things, that’s for sure.”

“It comes down to consistency on the offensive and defensive ends,” Mattix said. “You’re not going to win many games if you’re consistently giving up 65 to 58 points per game and only scoring 31 to 35.”

Buckeye Central also won the junior varsity game, 48-37. Alex Kanney had 17 points for the Bucks and Casey Geissmann added nine. Gabe Higginbotham had 14 for Bucyrus and Grady Jackson finished with 10.

Box score

Bucyrus                     15      3       6      25 — 49

Buckeye Central     11    10     13      22 — 56

Stats

Bucyrus (3-17, 3-12 N10): Shots 20-53; 3-pt. shots 5-20 (Kenton Lutz 2, Mike Wise, Harley Robinson-Koge, Dylan Goff); Free throws 4-12; Rebounds 35 (Kyle Hamm 12); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Jaylen Zehner 5 4 14, Kenton Lutz 2 0 6, Mike Wise 1 0 3, Nic Middleton 1 0 2, Harley Robinson-Koge 5 0 13, Dylan Goff 4 0 9, Kyle Hamm 1 0 2.

Buckeye Central (5-15, 4-11 N10): Shots 15-47; 3-pt shots 9-22 (Brady Biglin 6, Darren Wurm, Tyler Rose, Brady Kerschner); Free throws 17-24; Rebounds 36 (Mason Stahl 7); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Damian Dean 0 3 3, Tyler Rose 1 2 5, Darren Wurm 2 5 11, Brady Biglin 7 4 24, Mason Stahl 2 0 4, Brady Kerschner 1 0 3, Jacob Heefner 2 2 6.

JV: Buckeye Central 48-37.