HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Wynford has the Northern 10 Conference’s leading scorer in Josh Crall.
Yet coach Steve Mohr believes that it is defense that will most help his Royals succeed.
Defense and balanced scoring were on full display as Wynford rolled past Bucyrus, 68-45, in an N10 game at W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium.
“We really stressed going into the second half of the season being a good defensive team and I think we’ve been able to do that,” Mohr said. “When the ball’s not falling for you offensively, you’ve got to get stops on the defensive end to stay in the game.”
The first quarter highlighted Mohr’s analysis. Wynford (10-4, 8-2 N10) hit only one of its first eight shots and just four of 14 in the opening period. Still, the Royals led, 10-4 after one.
Despite their offensive struggles, the hosts held the Redmen to two of 13 shooting to establish the early lead.
“We missed some early layups,” Bucyrus coach Barry Egan said. “We got good shots and they didn’t go in. We dug ourselves a hole and it was uphill from there.”
The Bucyrus (1-14, 1-9) shooting struggles continued into the second period as the Redmen hit just five of 17 shots, seven of 30 for the first half. The Redmen shot no free throws.
Wynford, on the other hand, started to heat up on offense, connecting on seven on 17 from the field in the second period and seven of 10 from the line.
The Royals’ balanced scoring was evident in the first half, with seven different players in the scoring column. Gavin Burris had all eight of his points in the first two periods to lead the way to Wynford’s 31-14 advantage at the break.
“If we get a bunch of guys scoring six or seven points — I think we had eight or nine guys score tonight — even though we aren’t getting double-figure scorers, we’ll take that,” Mohr said. “It makes us a more balanced team. I think we’re getting that balance as we move into the second half of the season.”
The Redmen did show improvement offensively in the second half. Lucas Kozinski scored 11 of his team-high 17 points and Bucyrus made 10 of 24 shots in the second half to tally 31 points.
“When you can’t get defensive stops on a consistent basis, we can’t really put a string of runs together and that’s what you have to do,” Egan said. “We wanted to get it under 10 in the fourth quarter, but we couldn’t do it. The kids have to understand we have to share the ball and pass it to the guy who’s open. We did a little bit better job in the second half doing that and it showed.”
Wynford pushed the lead to 20 early in the third quarter and maintained the difference at 17-23 points the rest of the game.
Crall scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the second half to lead the way for the Royals. Eight of his teammates scored between three and eight points. Crall also had 13 rebounds. Wynford committed just seven turnovers for the game.
“Even though we play quick, we value the basketball,” Mohr said. “I think we’ve done a good job of taking care of the basketball.”
Grady Jackson scored 13 points in support of Kozinski’s 17 for the Redmen. Kozinski pulled down 14 rebounds.
“I’m certainly not displeased with our effort. We’ve just got to find a way to keep working hard,” Egan said. “I think our kids went out and tried to play with a purpose, but we have very little room for error still.”
“In order for us to get where we want to be, we’ve got to be a better defensive team,” Mohr said. “I thought we did that tonight.”
“They’ve got guys who can play,” Egan said of Wynford. “You’ve got to give them credit. They came out and played pretty well. We’ve just got to play better.”
Wynford also won the junior varsity game, 60-33. Lucas Hackworth and Toby Butterfield had 16 each to lead the Royals. Brady Rankins had 13 and Kolton Middleton added 11 for Bucyrus.
Box score
Bucyrus 4 19 16 15 — 45
Wynford 10 21 18 19 — 68
Bucyrus (1-14, 1-9 N10): Shots 17-54; 3-pt. shots 5-19 (Lucas Kozinski 2, Grady Jackson 2, Joe Rager); Free throws 6-8; Rebounds 33 (Lucas Kozinski 14); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Lucas Kozinski 7 1 17, Joe Rager 2 0 5, Mike Wise 2 4 8, Grady Jackson 5 1 13, Skylar Lucio 1 0 2.
Wynford (10-4, 8-2 N10): Shots 26-64; 3-pt shots 2-13 (Josh Crall, Isaac Sterrett); Free throws 14-22; Rebounds 50 (Josh Crall 13); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Matt McBride 0 3 3, Gunnar Coffman 2 0 4, Isaac Sterrett 2 0 5, Dustin Brady 3 0 6, Josh Crall 11 3 26, James Schiefer 3 2 8, Gavin Burris 1 4 6, Jaron Filliater 2 0 4, Gavin Leffler 3 0 6.
JV: Wynford 60-33.