BUCYRUS – Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer didn’t beat around the bush Friday night.
“It’s been a struggle, our record shows that — we definitely needed a win,” he said.
The Bucks got the win they desperately needed — their first of the new year — in a 55-32 drubbing of county rival Bucyrus to halt a seven-game skid. And they did so by cleaning up turnovers, notably in the second half.
“We had 12 turnovers, which has been our Achilles heel all season, but we had nine in the first half and three in the second, I thought that was the difference,” Moyer said. “We’ve been losing the possession battle all season, it was nice to come out on the right side of it.”
Forcing 22 turnovers, Buckeye Central had 10 additional possessions and capitalized on that scoring in transition more times than not. Plus, getting an eye-popping 28 points from senior Hunter Caudill certainly made things easier.
“We knew we had to come in strong … we knew this was a win (we could get), we beat them last time,” Caudill said. “I feel like we did a good job executing, getting the ball to our post, and I was really feeling it. All my shots were hitting and our defense, the 3-2 … it’s been doing pretty well.”
Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis knew a big game out of Caudill would likely mean his Redmen were on the wrong side of the result.
“I told the boys if Caudill scores 20, we’re definitely gonna lose — he damn near outscored us by himself,” Hargis said. “He’s a good player and keeps moving, some guys tend to relax a little when they give the ball up, but that’s when he’s most dangerous.”
Caudill never had a chance to relax with Bucyrus’ Charlie Randall defending him on virtually every possession.
“I feel like that’s what got me going,” Caudill said. “I like when people pressure me. I think this is a start to more, we just needed a little flame so we could build a fire.”
And in order to spark a fresh flame, the Bucks needed to stop a Blizzard named Lincoln. Bucyrus’ leading scorer on the night with 16, Blizzard went 5-for-6 from deep in the first half including back-to-back with under a minute to go to pull the Redmen within four at the intermission.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the Blizzard warning ended and nobody else could pick up the slack. After going scoreless for nearly seven minutes in the second quarter, Bucyrus was again blanked for the opening 6:30 or so of the second half allowing Buckeye Central to stretch a lead it would never relinquish.
“We found Blizzard,” Moyer said of the second half shift. “It’s all over the scouting report, and one of the things we struggle with is understanding concepts and being able to find him. Credit to him knocking down five 3s in the first half, and we helped by losing him.
“But we made a nice adjustment and I think he only had three shots in the second half.”
As a team Bucyrus made just three field goals in the second half and went 6-of-12 from the free throw line. Sophomore Charlie Randall had all eight of his points in the third and fourth.
“Charlie’s electric,” Moyer said. “That’s what we talked about in the zone, not allowing him space because he creates havoc and does a nice job when he gets int he middle of the paint. He’s either scoring or creating for someone else, so for the most part we did a good job of that.”
But the Redmen needed more than Blizzard’s hot first half and Randall’s surge in the second.
“Offensively we’re just having (trouble); if Linc doesn’t go hot there in the first half, we might not get over 20,” Hargis said. “It’s a game of runs and a game of droughts, and we’ve been on the drought end. Even undermanned and understaffed a bit with players and depth, we were still expecting to be competitive.”
Lane Caudill added eight for the Bucks, Jeremiah Fishpaw six, Hayden Hafner five, Isaiah Kaiser four, Madden Alt and Donnie Fortner two apiece. Carson Witten had seven for Bucyrus, Quin Ross one to round out scoring.
“We had some silly turnovers, some not even under pressure, which is unfortunate,” Hargis said. “But kudos to coach Moyer, we knew they’d come out and give us (a battle) with us being their only two wins.
“We knew we were going to get their best and we really didn’t respond from the get go, and if Linc doesn’t hit five 3s we’re down 20 at the half.”
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Caudill’s big night powers Buckeye Central boys past rival Bucyrus
Reporting by Zachary Holden, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum / Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum
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