SHELBY — It was a historic season for the Colonel Crawford Eagles, but it ended as quickly as it began.
The Eagles won 23 straight games, a Northern 10 Athletic Conference championship, and a sectional title. But it all came to an end in the Division III district semifinal at Shelby High School.
Willard guard Trey Paxton knocked down five threes in the first quarter and scored 19 points and teammate Myles Pinkston scored 22 more as the Flashes dropped the Eagles, 70-48.
The Eagles finished their amazing season at 23-1. Willard is 19-5.
Willard was aggressive early in the game, taking a 23-8 lead after the first period and held a 43-18 lead at the break.
The game had a running clock for a short time in the third period, as the Flashes held a 55-20 lead midway through the frame.
Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said his team simply wasn’t aggressive enough to play with the athletic Flashes.
“The bottom in is, they were the aggressor from the start,” Sheldon said. “We settled a lot early. And hats off to them. We knew Paxton had great range and he comes out and hits five 3s in the first quarter. We didn’t keep them off the offensive glass in transition and we settled at the other end.
“The one guy that attacked for us all night was Chase (Walker) and he went to the foul line 15 times; they just beat the heck out of him all night and he just kept going and going,” Sheldon added.
Crawford simply couldn’t slow down Paxton early in the game and the Willard guard made them pay.
Paxton hit a 3 early in the period then knocked down four more in the final three minutes of the period.
“(Paxton) had a game like that against Margaretta that won us a league championship,” Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. “We were down 13 there in the third quarter (against Margaretta), and when Trey feels it, you have to let him go. I know that would drive a lot of coaches nuts but it’s a players’ game and players have to go win the game. The kids came out ready to hit some shots.”
Bedingfield said that the Flashes were aggressive in transition and took control of the game as a result.
“I thought our kids did a nice job of getting out in transition,” Bedingfield said. “Obviously, when you hit shots early on it gives you a little more confidence. I thought we did a pretty decent job in the first half on the offensive glass and it got us going in transition. We did a nice job early of spreading the floor. That was something we talked about, space and pace.
“Colonel Crawford did such a good job, last year, of clogging the lane and when you can spread them out a little bit you can have success against them.”
The Flashes also did a good job of forcing the Eagles into a perimeter game, taking away the inside by being very physical against Walker. Walker scored 18 in the game but had to work for every point.
“It’s a tough one to swallow because of the way it went from the get-go,” Sheldon said. “But a couple of weeks from now you’ll look back and say ‘Wow, what a ride it was.’ In the middle of a pandemic, they played well, and it’s hats off. You look at my four seniors and Chase Walker has more wins than any kid in a four-year career and he left it all out on the line tonight and he got to the foul line and he kept going and he tried to will.”
No other Crawford player reached double figures in the game. Guard Carter Valentine, who led the N10 in scoring, finished with seven points, five coming in the first quarter.
“(Willard is) a very good basketball team, we knew going in,” Sheldon said. “It’s a tough one to end on. But that happens. They came out and were aggressive and shot lights out and we didn’t guard, and we weren’t aggressive at all. We really settled right from the get-go and that’s hats off to Willard because they put us on the back-peddle instead of us putting the pedal to the metal. That’s what happened.”
The Eagles struggled shooting the ball all night, hitting just one of ten shots in the first quarter, and finished hitting 14 of 39 shots for the game for 36 percent.
Willard, on the other hand, hit 17 of 30 shots in the first half and connected on 27 of 51 attempts for the game, 53 percent.
Sheldon was very complimentary of his four seniors, who played their final games: Brock Ritzhaupt, Mason McKibben, Drayton Burkhart, and Walker.
“In a game like this, you have to have multiple players and Chase was the one that tried to carry us,” Sheldon said. “You look at my other three seniors, they’re the reason that we are where we are at. They understood their roles on this team. Tonight wasn’t their night; hats off to Willard, they are a very good basketball team.”
Box score
Willard 23 20 16 11 — 70
Colonel Crawford 8 10 13 17 — 48
Willard (19-5): Shots 27-51; 3-pt shots 7 (Trey Paxton 5, Micah Dawson, Jake Cok); Free throws 9-18; Rebounds 35; Turnovers 7. Scoring: Trey Paxton 7 0 19, Cole Weiss 1 0 2, Austin Adelman 3 1 7, Myles Pinkston 9 4 22, Micah Dawson 4 2 11, Trey Mock 1 0 2, Jake Cok 2 1 7.
Colonel Crawford (23-1): Shots 14-39; 3-pt. shots 4 (Nolen McKibben 2, Carter Valentine, Drayton Burkhart); Free throws 16-23; Rebounds 21; Turnovers 7. Scoring: Mason Studer 2 4 8, Nolan McKibben 2 0 6, Carter Valentine 2 1 7, Mason McKibben 1 0 2, Drayton Burkhart 1 0 3, Chase Walker 4 10 18, Carson Feichtner 2 0 4.