BUCYRUS — Upper Sandusky has won or contended for boys’ basketball titles since the inception of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference in 2014. This year is no different.
A young Bucyrus team is struggling to find its identity under first-year coach Barry Egan.
The disparity was obvious when the two met on Friday at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium and the Rams went home with a 108-36 win.
Upper Sandusky (8-1, 5-0 N10) hit 47 of 69 shot attempts, many in transition or getting it to the block in the half court.
“We had a size advantage in there, I thought, a strength advantage,” Upper Sandusky coach Jeff Winslow said. “We wanted to take advantage of getting the ball inside. When you’re shooting the ball from two feet, you’re going to shoot a high percentage most of the time.”
Conversely, Bucyrus (0-9, 0-6) attempted just 46 shots — one less than the Rams converted — and 14 of those were from 3-point range.
“They had 46 points on twos and layups in the first half. They had two three-pointers,” Egan said. “That tells you where the bulk of their scoring was. They just bullied us inside because they were bigger and stronger. At the same token, there just comes a time when our effort has to be better. I’d rather see us foul than to go down that way.”
Seven different Rams scored in a 32-point first quarter, with Cameron McCreary and Mason Vent dropping seven each, as Upper Sandusky built a commanding 32-7 lead after one.
A 22-9 Rams’ differential in the second period made it 54-16 at halftime. Bucyrus committed 22 turnovers in the first two periods — 30 for the game.
“We pressed in the first quarter, then just worked on a lot of half-court defense,” Winslow said. “We’ve been mixing that up this year — a little more half-court at times. It was nice to see us do that stuff in the half court as well.”
The Redmen, featuring three sophomores and two freshmen playing significant varsity minutes, need offseason work to close the gap between themselves and the veteran Rams, according to the coach.
“All you have to do is look at them and look at us,” Egan said. “There’s a fundamental reason those kids are the way they are. They’ve been playing together for years, they’re basketball kids. They do a lot of things on their own.
“One of the things our kids can take away from (this game),” Egan continued. “Our kids have to put that time and that effort into it if we’re going to try to get anywhere close to as good as they are.”
Eleven Rams scored in all, with five finishing in double figures. Vent led the way with 20 — 13 of which came in the third quarter — while Trent Beamer came off the bench to score 19, 12 in the fourth quarter.
Gavin Carey was next with 13 points and Jaidyn Thiel and Brett Montgomery added 10 each. Beamer had eight rebounds which helped Upper Sandusky to a 39-15 advantage on the glass.
“We did a really good job of getting a lot of guys in double figures, a lot of guys touches,” Winslow said. “When you do that, you’re just harder to guard. Who do you guard when you have a bunch of people when you have a bunch of people scoring? We did a real good job of sharing the ball and playing unselfish and I’m very happy with that.”
Grady Jackson topped the Redmen with 12 points and Mike Wise finished with 10. Leading scorer for Bucyrus over the past three games, Lucas Kozinski, who had averaged 19.3 points in those games, was limited to six points. Nick Middleton had four rebounds.
“They got every loose ball in the first half, every loose ball in the second half,” Egan said. “Every 50-50 ball was theirs. They’re pretty good. They got us, simple as that.”
“(Kozinski’s) only played three games, averaging almost 20 points per game coming in and he’s been playing very well,” Winslow said. “Our focus was to limit him to not get going so they get going.”
“We can control our attitude and we can control our effort,” Egan reiterated. “If those two things don’t get better at the same time, we’ll continue to struggle against good teams.
“They definitely play the way I’m accustomed to having teams play,” Egan added. “I think we need to establish that kind of mentality at Bucyrus.”
Upper Sandusky also won the junior varsity game, 72-30. K. Iles led the Rams with 14 points and Owen Knapp had 13. Kolton Middleton topped Bucyrus with nine points and Brady Rankins added eight.
Box score
Upper Sandusky 32 22 32 22 — 108
Bucyrus 7 9 10 10 — 36
Upper Sandusky (8-1, 5-0 N10) Shots 47-69; 3-pt 4-12 (Cade Adams 2, Mason Vent, Cameron McCreary); Free throws 10-13; Rebounds 39 (Trent Beamer 8); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Jaidyn Thiel 5 0 10, Cameron McCreary 5 0 11, Brett Montgomery 5 0 10, Zach Sheaffer 2 2 6, Jackson Smalley 1 2 4, Cade Adams 2 0 6, Mason Vent 9 1 20, Cole Sowers 1 0 2, Evan Young 2 3 7, Trent Beamer 9 1 19, Gavin Carey 6 1 13.
Bucyrus (0-9, 0-6 N10): Shots 16-46; 3-pt. shots 2-14; Free throws 2-2; Rebounds 15 (Nick Middleton 4); Turnovers 30. Scoring: Lucas Kozinski 3 0 6, Joe Rager 1 0 3, Zach Delaney 1 0 2, Mike Wise 5 0 10, Grady Jackson 5 2 12, Gabe Higginbotham 1 0 3.
JV: Upper Sandusky 72-30.