Eastwood size, athleticism drops Redmen in DIII tourney

OAK HARBOR – Bucyrus coach Tony Rose had a goal to win the first sectional title in Redmen history.

Rose’s goal will have to wait another year.

The No. 4 seeded Eastwood Eagles lived up to their billing, outscoring the Redmen in every quarter to take a 58-36 victory in the Division III upper bracket sectional championship at Oak Harbor High School.

“We got one step closer than we did last year,” Rose said. “We won a tournament game. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We ended (the last two years) with a winning record, 24-23.”

Eastwood’s defense and size was the difference in the game.

“We’re long and athletic,” Eastwood coach Matt Routson said. “We knew how good Bucyrus was at taking the ball to the hole. We just kept the ball in front of us.”

After falling behind 9-2 to start the game, the Redmen battled back to close the gap to 13-9 by period’s end. But they just couldn’t sustain that momentum.

Bucyrus (12-12) hit just three of nine shots and one of three free throws in the second quarter. Cory Coffman scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the frame for Eastwood (15-8) as the Eagles pushed their lead to 28-17 by halftime.

“In the first half, we missed five shots in the paint and they got eight points off offensive rebounds,” Rose said. “We could have had the lead or been right there, but we weren’t.”

The Redmen made a mini-run, scoring five of the first seven point of the third quarter on a basket by Austin Williams and a basket and free throw from Dalon King, to cut the deficit to 30-22 with 4:10 left in the period. Bucyrus then missed a breakaway layup that would have pulled the Redmen to within six.

From there, it was all Eagles. They collected 12 offensive rebounds on the night, seven of which led directly to points. Eastwood had a 38-33 overall rebounding advantage.

“It’s something we do well,” Routson said. “We’re ahtletic in the post. We knew it can be tough boxing out against a team that plays zone. We had to concentrate on that.”

Eastwood increased the lead to 41-26 by the end of the third quarter and then hit 10 of 19 free throws and held Bucyrus to three of 14 from the field to win, going away, in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles had four players in double figures. Zach Jacoby and Jason Fertig had 12 each in support of Coffman’s 15, while Noah Smith added 11. Tim Hoodlebrink had 12 rebounds. They committed only eight turnovers.

King had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Redmen, while Williams finished with 10 points. They, along with Dylan Mutchler, John Price, Cole Murtiff, Mark Garcia, D.J. Dagher, Sam VanVoorhis, Cole Hollis and Paul Holdcraft, played their last game in a Bucyrus uniform.

“At this point, you look back at the positives of the season and see where you can apply sports to life,” Rose said. “Hopefully, the lessons learned here prepare them for handling adversity.”

“We really handled the ball well,” Routson said. “Bucyrus is quick and athletic at the guard position. We did a nice job of beating their press.”

“When we are cutting down nets, these seniors will be remembered as the ones who started us on the winning track,” Rose said. “They got us going in the right direction.”

Eastwood advances to the district tournament at Ashland University on Thursday at 6:15 p.m. The Eagles will face No. 2 seeded Huron, a 41-29 winner over Western Reserve in the lower bracket championship.

dmessers@gannett.com

Twitter: @TF_Schmidt

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