By Dan Messerschmidt

WILLARD — Colonel Crawford and Mansfield St. Peter’s met in the district final at Willard a year ago, with St. Peter’s advancing to the regional.

In the rematch this year, the Eagles closed the gap, but — despite a 22-point second half by Cam McCreary — once again lost to the top-ranked team in the state.

The Spartans led at every quarter break after the first and never trailed in the second half as St. Peter’s held off Colonel Crawford, 54-49, in the Division IV district championship at Willard High School.

“This was just a tremendous team effort defensively,” Spartans’ coach Joe Jakubick said. “Credit the kids. They hung in there. We bent, but we never broke.”

Colonel Crawford (20-5) got off to a 6-4 lead early in the first quarter but St. Peter’s tied it at 11-11 by period’s end, thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-point shot by Jared Jakubick.

The defenses took over in the second period. The Eagles hit just two of nine shots but by holding the Spartans to four of 13, Colonel Crawford only trailed, 20-17, at halftime.

“In the first half, we got good shots that just didn’t go in,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “But we were only down three.”

Sheldon had to feel good trailing by three, especially since his leading scorer, McCreary, was scoreless in the first 16 minutes.

McCreary got it going offensively in the third quarter, hitting three 3s after St. Peter’s had opened the largest lead of the night, 28-19, on a basket by Elijah Cobb.

With McCreary connecting from long range, the Eagles trimmed the deficit to 32-30 after three.

“We did a good job on him (defensively) in the first half,” Jakubick said of McCreary. “In the second half, we got a little undisciplined, overplayed shooters and gave him lanes. When he starts hitting 3s, he’s as hard to guard as there is.”

Colonel Crawford managed to tie game three times in the fourth quarter — at 32-32 on a pair of free throws by McCreary, at 34-34 on a basket by Jordan Fenner and 37-37 on a McCreary 3 — but they could never take the lead on the Spartans.

Jakubick scored 12 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to essentially negate the 13 that Colonel Crawford got from McCreary. Cobb added seven of his 18 points in the final frame.

“Cam’s a gamer,” Sheldon said. “There’s a reason he was Northwest District first team and will be all-Ohio. He’s had a heck of a two-year run and he’ll give us more (in the future).”

The Eagles were still within 48-46 on yet another McCreary 3 with 47 seconds left. But St. Peter’s hit six of eight free throws from there to hold off the Eagles. The Spartans were 20 of 27 from the line for the game.

“I have two all-Ohio players (Jared Jakubick and Cobb),” Jakubick said. “They shoot, they defend, and they rebound.”

Only six Spartans saw the court, as Jakubick went with his iron-man five. Jakubick and Cobb combined for 43 of St. Peter’s 54 points. Jonah Ramey had seven rebounds.

Just four players scored for Colonel Crawford. Fenner seconded McCreary’s 22 with 12 points and Brody Martin added 11. Harley Shaum grabbed nine rebounds.

Shaum, Martin and Hayden Bute played their last game in an Eagles’ uniform.

“These three seniors averaged 17 wins, had three sectional championships and two district runners-up,” Sheldon said. “Hayden Bute is a total team player. Harley Shaum is one of the best athletes we’ve had, and Brody Martin is the epitome of what the weight room does. All three are special.”

“After tomorrow, there will only be 64 teams left playing basketball in the state,” Jakubick said. “We’re blessed to be one of them.”

St. Peter’s moves on to meet East Canton in the regional tournament on Tuesday in Canton at 8 p.m.

“I was truly blessed to have this group,” Sheldon said. “They battled for 32 minutes. We played the No.1 team in the state to the wire and lost by two possessions.”

Mansfield St. Peter’s   11     9   12    22 — 54

Colonel Crawford         11     6   13    19 — 49

Stats

St. Peter’s (26-0) Shots 15-39; 3-pt 4-12 (Caleb Stewart, Luke Henrich, Elijah Cobb, Jared Jakubick); Free throws 20-27; Rebounds 27 (Jonah Ramey 7); Turnovers 6. Scoring: Jonah Ramey 0 2 2, Caleb Stewart 2 1 6, Luke Henrich 1 0 3, Elijah Cobb 6 5 18, Jared Jakubick 6 12 25.

Colonel Crawford: (20-5) Shots 17-45; 3-pt shots 7-22 (Cameron McCreary 6, Jordan Fenner); Free throws 8-11; Rebounds 30 (Harley Shaum 9); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Jordan Fenner 4 3 12, Cameron McCreary 7 2 22, Brody Martin 4 3 11, Harley Shaum 2 0 4.