SHELBY (Crawford County Now) — Buckeye Central’s road to recovery took another step here Thursday night, even if it was a bit painful. The Bucks ended their season with a 68-35 loss to top seed Norwalk St. Paul in a boys Division VII district semifinal.
The powerful Flyers put eight players in the scoring column, raced out to a 19-2 lead after one quarter and punched their ticket to a district title game against Sandusky Central Catholic, a 46-25 winner over Plymouth in the nightcap.
“We were struggling to rebound. We came out in a triangle-and-two which was effective early. We knew we were worried about rebounding and 18 offensive rebounds. They went on that run there and we were turning it over,” head coach Chris Moyer said.
“I think a little bit of shellshock set in.”
St. Paul won the board battle 32-22, with 6-foot-7 post Nolan McCall grabbing 10. Caydin Jarvis led BC with 7, to go with his 4 points.
Buckeye Central (8-16) fought back and prevented a running clock until the final two minutes of the contest. Hunter Caudill led the Bucks with 18 points, along with 3 rebounds and a steal.
The Flyers went up 40-12 at halftime as Grant Kuhnle, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, scored 15 of his game-high 18 points in the half. Included in that were three 3s in the opening frame.
St. Paul (18-5) head coach Steve Minor said he expected a battle from the Bucks.
“We knew they would come at us with everything they could think of. Coach Moyer does a great job and I’m sure he thought of every kind of defense he could to slow us down or stop us,” Minor said.
“It was a great game plan, but fortunately we were able to break it down and get some buckets. They did a good job defending our top two guys at first and that left other guys open.”
The Flyers’ length and ability to shoot from beyond the arc (8-of-24) is a dangerous combination. McCall was held to 7 points, but he contributed on the glass, along with having 2 assists and 3 blocked shots.
“When we make the 3s it sure does (help). I’m proud of these guys for the work they’re putting in now,” Minor said.
“This is not an easy district. Plymouth plays a heck of a schedule. St. Mary’s is in a really good competitive conference. (By now) They’ve had time to put in completely different offenses.”
The Bucks played fairly even in the third quarter, fueled by Caudill’s 12 points and Jack Phillips’ 3. They cut the lead to 53-28 entering the final quarter.
“I told the kids at halftime, ‘Let’s just play. Not look at the scoreboard. Let’s play like we can play.’ And I thought we did offensively, but still didn’t do a very good job defensively,” Moyer said.
“It’s a lot of fight. The kids fought.”
With just one senior graduating in Matthew Heefner, Moyer knows that the future appears bright.
“Matthew is a great kid. A great student and a great leader in our locker room. He’s by far our most improved player this year,” he said.
Losing to a strong program like Norwalk St. Paul can be a springboard for the Bucks entering next season.
“It set the tone for the summer,” he said. “Being in this atmosphere should motivate you. We got here, but this isn’t where we want it to end. We’re a junior-laden team and have a bunch of sophomores in there. I told them summer determines who wins this game. That’s not cliché, that’s fact,” Moyer said.
“Hopefully we have a really, really good summer because we have high expectations for them.”
Box score
Buckeye Central 2 10 16 7 — 35
St. Paul 19 21 13 15 — 68
Buckeye Central (8-16): Shots 14-52; 3-pt. shots 3-15 (Hunter Caudill 2, Jack Phillips); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 22 (Caydin Jarvis 7); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Hunter Caudill 7 2 18, Caydin Jarvis 2 0 4, Jeremiah Fishpaw 1 1 3, Jack Phillips 2 0 5, Matthew Heefner 2 1 5.
St. Paul (18-5): Shots 23-64; 3-pt. shots 8-24 (Grant Kuhnle 4, Jacob Zuccaro, Korey Frazee, Nolan McCall, Landon Fries); Free throws 14-19; Rebounds 32 (Nolan McCall 10); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Jacob Zuccaro 2 1 6, Grant Kuhnle 6 2 18, Brock Houck 4 1 9, Kory Frazee 3 3 10, Adam Roth 1 0 2, Brady Fritz 2 2 6, Nolan McCall 3 0 7, Landon Fries 2 5 10.