GREEN CAMP — As with most teams, the basketball season’s road has had some twists and turns for the Bucyrus Redmen.

One that puzzles coach Justin Mattix, however, is the team’s sudden inability to make shots, which reared its head at Elgin again Tuesday night.

The Redmen connected on just 15 of 53 shots from the field and attempted only one free throw in falling to the Comets, 52-31, in a non-league encounter.

“We didn’t hit any shots and it showed,” Mattix said. “It’s been a thing for the last two games. We played Ridgedale (Friday) and we had 27 points. Tonight, we had 31 points. You’re not going to win a lot of games if you’re in the 30s, unless your defense is very good. Unfortunately, our defense isn’t very good either.”

Bucyrus (2-12) led, 2-0, on a basket by Harley Robinson-Koge. That was it. Elgin (5-9) went on a 16-6 run to the end of the quarter to lead, 16-8, and never trailed again.

Stormy Goddard led the charge for the Comets, hitting two 3-point shots in the first quarter and one in the second period as Elgin went to the locker room with a 27-18 advantage. Goddard hit four 3s on the night on his way to a game-high 18 points.

“I think one of their better shooters wasn’t even playing tonight,” Mattix said. “A kid (Goddard) steps up and gets 18, hits four 3s. That’s what we don’t have. We have guys get injured, we have guys get hurt, but we don’t have guys step up and put the team on their back. We don’t have guys who lead this team.”

The last time the Redmen were within nine, at 33-24, was at 4:37 of the third quarter on a basket by Kenton Lutz. From there, the Comets pulled away with a 10-2 run to increase their edge to 43-26 after three.

Robinson-Koge led the Redmen with 11 points and Nic Middleton had eight rebounds. Kyle Hamm, who saw limited action due to a broken finger on his shooting hand, managed eight points.

“He’s a guy who leads by example,” Mattix said. “He’s not a very vocal person. But he breaks his hand and puts a pad on it. It was very uncomfortable for him to shoot today. It still causes him pain. He muscled through it, he toughed through it. Hopefully, our guys can look at that and say, ‘If he can do it with a broken hand, then I’ve got to be able to do it.’ He played really well.”

Cam Miller seconded Goddard’s 18 points with 17 and pulled down 13 rebounds for Elgin. Riley McElroy added nine points.

“We took care of the ball, especially with the starting point guard out,” Mattix said. “We handled it well today. Unfortunately, shots didn’t go through.”

Bucyrus committed just nine turnovers compared to 13 for the Comets.

“We don’t need a guy who’s going to go out and get 40 points,” Mattix said. “We need the guy who’s going to step up and lead this team and be a leader for the guys who are sitting in that locker room. We need the guy who’s going to war for them, not just on the floor but at practice every day.

“Right now, we don’t have guys on the floor who are just expecting excellence in everything we do,” Mattix added. “Till we get to that point, we’re going to have seasons like this. It’s up to them. They’re the ones on the floor, we can only coach them.”

Bucyrus gained a split on the evening with a 28-25 victory in the jayvee game. Tod Spurlock had 11 points and Jacob Carr added 10 to lead the Redmen.

Box score

Bucyrus           8     10       8      5 — 31

Elgin               16     11     16     9 — 52

Bucyrus (2-12): Shots 15-53; 3-pt. shots 0-12; Free throws 1-1; Rebounds 28 (Nic Middleton 8); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Zane Seybert 1 0 2, Kenton Lutz 1 0 2, Nic Middleton 2 0 4, Harley Robinson-Koge 5 1 11, Dylan Goff 2 0 4, Kyle Hamm 4 0 8.

Elgin (5-9): Shots 21-50; 3-pt. shots 6-18 (Stormy Goddard 4, Justin Brown 2); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 37 (Cam Miller 13); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Justin Brown 2 0 6, Evan Backensto 1 0 2, Cam Miller 8 1 17, Riley McElroy 3 3 9, Stormy Goddard 7 0 18.

JV: Bucyrus 28-25.