BUCYRUS — Upper Sandusky basketball doesn’t’ rebuild — they reload.
The Rams have won four of the seven Northern 10 Athletic Conference boys’ basketball titles and have never finished lower than tied for second.
The system that sustains that success was on full display in their game against Bucyrus Saturday night.
Upper Sandusky forced 16 Redmen turnovers and opened a 22-point halftime lead before cruising to a 76-48 N10 win at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“We had more turnovers in the first half — 16 — than what we had points,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “It’s just tough to fight back from that.”
The Rams were coming off a narrow 63-61 overtime thriller at Mohawk on Friday. Going on the road the next day again concerned coach Jeff Winslow.
“Focus and intensity was our main goal after having a big game (Friday) night,” Winslow said. “It was overtime and the way we won it against a big rival just down the street from us.
“You worry about coming back to a Saturday game and the focus and intensity,” he continued. “We had to forget that and do this one. That starts with defense, and I thought we just got after it defensively. I thought that was the tone for the game.”
Upper Sandusky (5-2, 4-0 N10) reeled off the first 12 points of the game, fueled by five Bucyrus (2-3, 1-3) turnovers. The Redmen also missed three shots in the skein. The Rams stretched it to 19-7 by period’s end.
“The pressure Upper puts on you — they’re just fundamentally sound,” Egan said. “Jeff has them sitting down and playing the way he needs to play. It’s a big challenge for us. They’ve got great size and it showed.”
Five different Rams scored in the second quarter as the visitors outscored the Redmen, 16-6, to take a 35-13 lead by intermission. Bucyrus hit just five of 18 shots from the field after shooting 57 percent the night before at Wynford.
“I watched that game and they played really, really well against Wynford,” Winslow said. “ It was a big concern. I said, ‘Boys, don’t look at their record. They played really well and they’re getting better.’ Barry does a real good job with them.”
The Redmen found their offense in the second half and played on nearly even terms with the Rams. Kolton Middleton scored eight of his 11 points in the second half and Joe Rager had all 10 of his in the final two periods.
But Trent Beamer scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and Levi Lamb had 15 of his 17 to hold Bucyrus at bay.
“(Beamer) is a solid player,” Egan said. “They’ve got a lot of solid players. I think we take away from this is we’ve got to get better in a very short period of time. It’s a challenge we’ve got to readily accept.”
“I thought Trent — that was his best game of the year of making his presence felt in the paint all night on both ends,” Winslow said. “I think we did a really good job of not letting them get comfortable. A couple of times in the second half they got some open ones and they made them. But we did a good job overall with that.”
Jackson Smalley finished with 12 points and Zach Sheaffer added 11 to go with Beamer’s 23 and Lamb’s 17. Sheaffer and Gavin Frey had six rebounds each for the Rams.
Grady Jackson topped Bucyrus scorers with 13 points, followed by Middleton’s 11 and Rager’s 10. Mike Wise had seven points and six rebounds.
“When they did miss, it’s tough for us to clean up afterwards because they are so big,” Egan said. “You don’t want to overstate the obvious. Their defense is pretty good. We’ve got to continue to catch and square and be smart and make better decisions with the ball.”
“These kids don’t quit,” Winslow said of the Redmen. “They fought that second half. They just kept trying to do things right.”
“Our kids will continue to be coachable,” Egan said. “We’ll keep encouraging and hopefully we’ll get over that hump and get better.”
Upper Sandusky also won the junior varsity game, 62-18. Ethan Kessler had 12 points to lead the Rams and Micah Shasteen and Brock Montgomery added 11 and 10, respectively.
Blayne Stewart-Barto had eight points for Bucyrus.
Box score
Upper Sandusky 19 16 19 22 — 76
Bucyrus 7 6 18 17 — 48
Upper Sandusky (5-2, 4-0 N10): Shots 31-56; 3-pt. shots 4-17 (Jackson Smalley 2, Holden Daris, Levi Lamb); Free throws 10-13; Rebounds 32 (Zach Sheaffer 6, Gavin Frey 6); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Holden Daris 1 2 5, Kaden Holman 2 0 4, Zach Sheaffer 4 3 11, Gavin Frey 1 0 2, Jackson Smalley 5 0 12, Levi Lamb 7 2 17, Ethan Kessler 1 0 2, Trent Beamer 10 3 23.
Bucyrus (2-3, 1-3 N10): Shots 18-43; 3-pt. shots 4-8 (Kolton Middleton 2, Mike Wise, Grady Jackson); Free throws 8-11; Rebounds 23 (Mike Wise 6); Turnovers 23. Scoring: Eddie Dagher 0 3 3, Joe Rager 3 4 10, Mike Wise 3 0 7, Grady Jackson 6 0 13, Jake Hamm 1 0 2, Kolton Middleton 4 1 11, Dylan Lanker 1 0 2.
JV: Upper Sandusky 62-18.