Rams play tough against Eagles

By DANNY SCHWARTZ

Staff writer

NORTH ROBINSON — The Upper Sandusky and Colonel Crawford boys basketball teams faced off for the second time in less than a week, and once again, the Rams put up a better fight than any other Northern 10 Athletic Conference team has against the Eagles this season, but still fell in the Eagles Nest on Tuesday night, 57-38.

With a 19-point loss, Upper Sandusky (7-11, 6-5 N10) one-upped its own performance from last Thursday when it forced the closest final margin of the season for the Eagles (14-1, 10-0 N10) in N10 action with a final score of 62-41.

Facing an unbeaten N10 team like Colonel Crawford at its venue is tough in and of itself, but it became even more challenging with longtime Upper Sandusky coach Jeff Winslow not in attendance due to illness. Assistant coach Eric Romich assumed the head coaching duties in his absence. 

“I’ve been helping him out for four or five years now and I think I’ve only seen him miss one practice,” Romich said. “He gave me a heads-up last night and then this morning and said it’s not looking good, so we were kind of prepared for it, but that’s always tough because the amount of experience that he brings, you can’t replace that.”

But Romich was happy with how the team played, even in a loss.

“Our guys battled for sure,” Romich said. “Not only from an effort standpoint. We kept preaching ‘value every possession. You’ve got to value every possession.’ And I thought, for the most part, they did that. I don’t feel like there was a point where things got really out of hand. Just their size and physicality and skill, and I mean, that’s a really good team, just kind of leaned on us and grinded on us over the course of the game.”

Colonel Crawford built an early 14-3 lead with each of its starters scoring during the span, which included Brayden Holt converting an and-one, Payne DeGray using his 6-foot-5 frame to score under the basket and Peyton Baker opening the game with a 3-pointer.

Luke Schoenberger scoring off an inbounds pass and Wyatt Taylor connecting on a triple provided some offense for Upper Sandusky, but Holt converting yet another three-point play and DeGray knocking down two free throws allowed Colonel Crawford to enter the second quarter with a 19-8 advantage.

It was in that second quarter that Upper Sandusky got as close to Colonel Crawford as any N10 team has gotten to them beyond the first period.

The two teams went back and forth to begin the frame. A Josh Heilman layup was responded to with another Baker trey. A 3-pointer from Jacob Romich was responded to with a 3-pointer from Parker Weithman. An Ethan Smith floater led to a hook shot on the other end from DeGray.

As Upper Sandusky continued to battle, a 3 from Heilman halfway through the second period cut its deficit to single digits, 27-18.

But Colonel Crawford locked in on both ends of the floor to finish the first half, going on an 8-0 run and entering the halftime locker room with a 35-18 lead.

“I thought we were very solid,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “They came out and spread the floor in four corners, and, you know, when you win by 19 against a team that spreads a floor, it’s a little bit bigger than that because of the pace, and I thought we did a good job of just guarding them man to man. And then, at the end of the second, we threw some traps in there and turned them over and got some shots.”

The Eagles never looked back, staying just enough in the driver’s seat in the second half as they outscored the Rams 8-7 in the third quarter and 14-13 the fourth quarter.

“We were down 17 at the half, but we battled in that second half to a two-point loss,” coach Romich said. “We tried to slow it down at times. And most of the season, we’re pressuring and trying to maximize the number of possessions we can get over the course of a game. And obviously, we just didn’t feel that we could compete with them in that type of a game or tempo of a game, and so when we have fewer possessions, we really got to be more efficient scoring, and we just didn’t convert on enough of those scoring opportunities.”

Colonel Crawford was without John DeGray, who left last Thursday’s matchup at Upper Sandusky with an injury, but is essentially day-to-day according to Sheldon.

“Our one-two punch of Holt and (Payne) DeGray were special like they always are, and Baker hit big 3s for us,” Sheldon said. “Tyler Lash gets to start, and he stepped up and gave us great minutes in a starting role. That’s a good young Upper team, they’ve got good years ahead and their kids play very hard, they epitomize what coach Winslow and coach Romich do over there. And I thought they put it all on the floor for 32 minutes against a veteran group that we have.”

For the Eagles, Holt led with 22 points and Payne DeGray with 15. Heilman led the Rams with nine points while Luke Schoenberger added eight.

“We competed, but at the end of the day, fell a little bit short,” coach Romich said. “Hopefully they can learn from this and, again, I think the effort was there, that’s a tough team to game plan for, they can beat you inside or outside. But all in all, I’m proud of the guys, proud of the effort. That’s a good team, well-coached. And I’m sure they’re gonna make a run.

“The losses hurt, but with this group, it’s trying to get our seniors to help lead this younger group and recognize that, you know, this isn’t the end. We have a stretch here at the end of the season where we need to be playing our best basketball as we head into tournament time.”

Eli Smith led the Upper Sandusky junior varsity basketball team to a 34-31 overtime win with 17 points.

Up next, Upper Sandusky hosts Seneca East at 6 p.m. Friday.

UPPER SANDUSKY (7-11, 6-5 N10): Heilman 4-0-9, L. Schoenberger 4-0-8, Romich 1-3-6, M. Schoenberger 1-1-3, Taylor 1-0-3, King 1-0-3, Et. Smith 1-0-2, Clark 1-0-2, Arter 1-0-2. Totals 15 4-6 38.

COLONEL CRAWFORD (14-1, 10-0 N10): Holt 9-4-22, DeGray 5-5-15, Baker 3-0-9, Lash 4-0-8, Weithman 1-0-3. Totals 22 9-10 57.

3-point goals: Baker 3, Heilman, Romich, Weithman, Taylor, King. 

Score by quarters

Upper Sandusky          8             10          7             13          — 38

Colonel Crawford        19          16          8             14          — 57

Junior varsity: Upper Sandusky won 34-31 (OT).