After controlling the game for the first 31 minutes, Crestline watched a much-needed MBC win slip out of reach in the final minute against Kidron.
CRESTLINE — Paul Webb and Zach Kooker both exhaled at the buzzer of Friday's Mid-Buckeye Conference clash between Crestline and Central Christian.
Kooker's was a sigh of relief as his Comets came from behind on the road to steal a 59-52 win away from the Bulldogs, their direct competition for the league title this season.
"This is not an easy place to play ever," Kooker said. Anytime we come over here it's a tough place to play. So coming over here and getting the win is for sure big, especially being behind for 95% of that game.
"Crestline came out with a great gameplan, and ... I feel fortunate to walk out of here for the win. They outplayed us for most of that game, and we hit some big shots down the stretch. We got some buckets when we needed the buckets."
Webb's was a mixture of frustration and disappointment after seeing the Bulldogs held scoreless for the final 2:30 of the game after being the aggressor for the previous 29:30 of the contest.
"My staff did a nice job coming up with the gameplan going against them, and the kids executed it for 95% of the game," Webb said. "We kept the ball in the middle, got nice shots and did a nice job until the very end."
With a minute on the clock, Central Christian's Drew Badertscher nailed a corner 3 to put the Comets ahead 55-52, then stretched the lead to five after a Bulldogs miss led to a Badertscher layup at the other end. He finally iced it, breaking loose on an inbound and finishing at the basket uncontested with 12.6 seconds on the clock. He had 11 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, seven in the final 58.6 seconds — with four fouls, too.
The Comets got into foul trouble early and forced Kooker deep into his bench in the first half. The reserves responded with a 22-point second quarter to pull within one at halftime, and go into the fourth tied 44-44. Lyle Endsley added 16 points, Ezra Coleman eight, Preston Clark seven — none bigger than this tying 3 near the buzzer in the third quarter — Bryan Martin six, Logan Kister three, Kyle Kooker two.
"Our theme is five strong," coach Kooker said. "Whoever's on the court, they gotta give us great minutes. Different guys step up in different situations, and they did that tonight. I look down that bench and see 10 guys that can play every game ... some games the matchups work a little differently, but I don't look down to bench and say we only got six.
"There's 10 — actually even more than 10 — down that bench that we're we're willing to play if the situation presents itself."
And failing to capitalize on the Comets fouls, Crestline was just 11-of-27 from the free-throw line; that's 16 points in a seven-point loss.
"We really concentrate on free throws, we shoot them a lot and we get on them when they're not taking them serious," Webb said. "Tonight was one of those things where if you're not working on getting your free throws up on your own time and before practice, it might come back to bite you in the butt."
Kody Lawhorn led all scorers with 23 points, Kieran Barnett added nine, Brett Cheney six, Weston Clark, Kordaie Robinson, Dominic Griffith four apiece, Adam Burton two.
"Central Christian is obviously a very good team ... last year in our conference they went undefeated and kind of ran through everybody, then brought almost everybody back," Webb said. "So to come out here and let everyone know that we're here to play was big for our kids and what we needed to do.
"We need to learn how to win at the end of games — we've done a nice job early in the season wining our other two games — but tonight we just didn't finish. We're still learning how to win and the more the season goes on, the more I think we'll get that done."
Lawhorn logged yet another stellar performance for the Bulldogs scoring six in the first quarter, four in the second, eight in the third, and five in the fourth. And he has been a big reason why Crestline is 2-2 on the season, 1-1 in league play.
"He's a great kid who puts in all the work," Webb said. "He's just special, we're lucky to have him on our team."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Crestline boys drop key MBC basketball clash to Central Christian
Category: General Sports
