NORTH ROBINSON — The Colonel Crawford Eagles boys basketball team has not lost back-to-back games during their 2017-2018 campaign and it remains that way after last weekend’s contest with county and conference foe, the Wynford Royals.
Last Saturday, the Eagles were downed by the Lexington Minutemen but, with an entire week to prepare, they welcomed the visiting Royals to Mac Morrison Gymnasium on Saturday evening to compete in their Northern-10 Athletic Conference matchup.
Although things didn’t start quite how the hosts had hoped, trailing to Wynford by a tally of 13-12 after the first eight minutes of play, Colonel Crawford defeated the Royals by a score of 65-46. The victory moves Crawford’s overall record to 13-3 and they now stand, still tied with Upper, atop the N-10 at 10-1. Wynford drops to 7-7 overall and 5-6 within the conference with the loss.
After finding themselves trailing after the first, the Eagles responded and would go on to outscore the Royals in the second, 17-14 to take the slim, two-point advantage into the locker room for the half; 29-27. Crawford would come out of the gates in the second half to take a 10-point lead into the third (45-35) before sealing the deal by adding a 20-11 advantage in the final quarter en route to the victory.
Brody Martin would go on to finish as the leading scorer for the Eagles on the evening, pouring in 18 points, including 4/7 from three-point range. Martin would also grab six rebounds, dish three assists, record a steal and swat one block in the win. Hayden Bute was the only other Crawford player in double figures, scoring 16 points on 8/10 shooting. Bute also contributed three rebounds and an assist to aide in the victory.
Cameron McCreary was held to just four points on the night, all scored in the first half, but he did dish out 15 assists to set a new, single game record for the Craword basketball program. Cam also had two rebounds and four steals for the contest.
Other statistics for the Eagles in the win were: Team- 23/40 from the interior, 5/16 from the perimeter, 4/7 at the free-throw line, 34 total rebounds, 24 assists, 9 steals, 6 blocks and 11 turnovers; Harley Shaum- 9 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks; Reis Walker- 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks; Jordan Fenner- 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and Gavin Feichtner- 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist.
As for the Royals, they were led by senior Cole Heinlen. Heinlen contributed 14 points on the night and was joined in double figures by junior big man Caleb Rausch with 10 points.
Other Wynford stats in the loss were: Team- 17/38 from the inside, 2/14 from the outside, 6/8 from the line, 23 rebounds and 15 turnovers; Josh Crall- 7 points; Wyatt Smith- 5 points; Kevan Hughett- 4 points; Matt McBride, Gavin Leffler and Caleb Stone- 2 points apiece.
The Eagles will be back in action, at home, on Thursday, February 1 when they welcome New Riegel to “The Mac” to compete in a non-conference contest. N-10 play will resume for Crawford when they travel to Attica to faceoff against the Seneca East Tigers on Saturday, February 3.
