Big 4th quarter carries Wynford past Bucyrus 62-50

HOLMES TOWNSHIP – It was Senior Night at Wynford for winter sports athletes and the energy seemed to carry the day for the Royals.

Wynford trailed by one at halftime but broke open a close game with a 23-point fourth quarter to pull away from arch-rival Bucyrus, 62-50, in a Northern 10 Conference game at W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium.

"They did not want to lose their last game here to Bucyrus," Wynford coach Mark DeLaney said.

The Redmen had a different idea to start the game. After five lead changes, D.J. Dagher tied the game at 12 with a basket at the 2:04 mark. Bucyrus (11-11, 9-9 N10) then scored eight of the final 10 points of to lead 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.

"We played nearly perfect, textbook basketball in the first quarter," Bucyrus coach Tony Rose said. "We gave up four 3s to them, but otherwise, we did everything we planned to do."

Defensively, Wynford (12-10, 11-7) slowed the Bucyrus offense in the second period, holding the visitors to five points, all by Dalon King. This allowed the Royals to whittle the deficit to 25-24 by intermission.

King got Bucyrus off to a fast start in the third quarter, scoring the first eight points for his team. But four different Wynford players scored to stay within 33-32. King, the Redmen's leading scorer, did not score again.

"In the first half, they made (perimeter shots)," DeLaney said of the Redmen. "Our defense was better in the second half. James Ort and Zach Hoffman gave us a great defensive effort off the bench."

By the end of the third quarter, the Royals held a 39-37 advantage.

"This team had so much success taking the ball to the basket and then we don't do it," Rose said. "We shot (23) 3s — why? We don't have basketball knowledge."

Bucyrus was still hanging around early in the final period. Cole Murtiff hit a trey to give the Redmen a 40-39 lead. But Mason Johnson tied it with a free throw for Wynford, starting an 8-0 run from which Bucyrus never recovered.

The Royals converted 11 straight free throws in the last 1:17 to keep the Redmen at bay.

Hunter Miller had a game-high 17 points to lead Wynford. Alex Crall finished with 15 and Keaton Teynor added 14. Austin Shutler grabbed eight rebounds.

"That's what we have done in all of our games." DeLaney siad of the balanced scoring. "We have multiple players who are leading scorers. You can't just key on one player."

King had 15 points for Bucyrus while Austin Williams had nine points and six rebounds.

"We still have goals — win a tournament and cut nets," Rose said. "We're going to study this film, go to class and make adjustments."

The teams get a quick rematch in the Division III sectional tournament at Oak Harbor High School, Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

"We were able to get out in transition and get some easy baskets," DeLaney said. "There is so much we can take away from this game to get better. We didn't play four solid quarters."

dmessers@gannett.com

Twitter: @TF_Schmidt

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