Defensive duel: Carey stifles Colonel Crawford to take control of the Northern 10
CAREY — Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldonsaid his Eagles played well enough defensively Saturday night to be in a position to win on the road against Carey.
"I thought our defense was unbelievable tonight," Sheldon said. "It was 36-32 with under two to go, then we had to start fouling. Our defense was good, we just forgot to make shots. We got great looks, but give credit to Carey — they're strong kids and their defensive effort made shots tough all night as well."
Offensively, the Eagles struggled, shooting just 35.8% from the field, and that was ultimately their downfall against the league-leading Blue Devils as Carey knocked down free throws late to stretch a four-point lead to nine for a 47-38 win.
It was the first time Carey has ever swept Colonel Crawford, and the Blue Devils did so despite making just one field goal in the fourth quarter. Coach Jamie Young credited two things for his team's ability to close out the game.
"Our stifling defense and free throws at the end," he said. "Brayden (Young) was 9 of 10 down the stretch, and that's clutch. The kids battled, Crawford was working for everything they could get and we never backed down. They had the size advantage on us inside, but we battled, we were physical and we did what it took to win.
"We're a gritty team that made plays when we had to."
Big plays are what helped Carey stretch leads and keep the Eagles at bay. The Blue Devils took a 14-5 lead in the first six minutes before Colonel Crawford clawed back to make it 19-18 midway through the second quarter.
But a 7-0 run to close out the half pushed Carey's advantage to eight.
"They got some in transition and we gave up some 3s," Sheldon said of how the half ended. "(Carter) Smiley hit a big 3 late to put them ahead. But we never quit, cut it to two a few times, it's a four-point game late and we had the ball twice. We just couldn't capitalize. And we got the shots we wanted — every shot we got were shots we want out of our offense."
Again the Eagles battled back to within a basket several times in the second half despite trailing by 11 (36-25) at one point.
"Dave's a great coach, and they know everything we're going to do offensively, so that makes it tough," Young said. "We're up seven or nine points, but we know they're going to come back. Hardly ever will you see a Crawford team not fight back, so the kids are going to fight. We just had to make plays, and there were times we hit big shots after they went on a run … we kept our distance and at the end we weren't getting anything to fall, so we slowed it down and wanted to burn clock."
As good as Colonel Crawford was defensively, Carey was equally as impressive, holding the Eagles to 20 points below their average of 58.1 and notably keeping Braxton Baker — second in the league with a 20.3 average — out of rhythm throughout the game. He finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three blocks, but needed to earn every single point and battle for every rebound.
"We know Braxton is one of the top players in the league and we know he's going to get his shots up, so we wanted to make that as hard as possible for him," Young said. "We wanted to run him off the 3-point line and if you noticed he didn't have many open looks, and the two he did make were highly contested. And he had to work for everything he had inside. The kids just executed the game plan great."
Entering the night in phenomenal form, post Jacob Maddy was battling an illness and wasn't sure if he'd even suit up against Carey until the last moment. This meant he couldn't log quite as many minutes against the Blue Devils, which led to freshman Payne DeGray stepping up to help.
And he put on a performance that'll have Eagles fans excited about the next three years. In a hostile environment with league title implications on the line, DeGray looked every bit like a seasoned veteran on the court. He had two points, six rebounds, one block and one steal.
"The freshman has really come along, the puppy has grown up," Sheldon said. "When I look at Payne, he's going to be a big one. He's a tough kid, a physical kid and we knew we needed his length against their length. I thought Payne didn't back down at all and gave us great minutes. Jacob was under the weather and we didn't think he was going to make it."
Maddy finished with 10 points and five rebounds, Trevor Vogt added nine points and three rebounds, and Derek Horsley had four points, three assists and three steals.
Now two games behind Carey in the Northern 10 standings, Colonel Crawford shifts its focus on making adjustments to ensure the Eagles can close out the regular season strong and build momentum heading into the postseason where a district championship is the goal. Two home games next weekend against Seneca East and Wynford are where they'll start.
"We have to look at what we've got to do now," Sheldon said. "We've lost two in a row and we have to figure out what to do with rotation changes, go back to the drawing board because there's no easy ones here on out."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Carey boys stifle Colonel Crawford in Northern 10 basketball clash
