CRESTLINE, Ohio— The clock couldn’t run out soon enough for Mansfield Christian coach John Kurtz. Crestline boss Colby Bright would have liked a few more minutes.
The Flames raced out to a huge third-quarter lead then held on for dear life in a 63-53 non-conference win over the Bulldogs in Crestline on Tuesday.
The Flames (7-4) built what appeared to be a comfortable 18-point lead in the third quarter before the Bulldogs (1-11) made things interesting. Trailing 46-35 after three quarters, Crestline outscored Mansfield Christian 12-6 to start the fourth and cut the deficit to 52-47 with 4:30 remaining on Codi Cooke’s traditional three-point play with 4:30 remaining.
“They turned up their pressure a little bit, but some of it was self-inflicted,” Mansfield Christian coach John Kurtz said “We had a couple unforced errors, a couple turnovers that were on us.
“We got sped up and didn’t handle it very well, but in the end we made free throws.”
The Flames connected on 9 of 11 freebies in the fourth quarter and 19 of 25 for the game. Crestline, meanwhile, was just 5 of 13 from the stripe and committed several costly turnovers.
“They really got up our wings,” Bright said. “They were getting deflections which led to some easy buckets in the first half.
“There in the second we finally got some momentum. I wish we had about five more minutes.”
Brandon Mount scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter. Abe Jessee had eight of his 17 in the fourth.
“Mount and Jessee really hurt us with dribble penetration,” Bright said. “They do things that make it tough for the defense with the driving and kicking. They both do a good job.”
Nate Coffman led three Crestline players in double figures with 14 points. Cooke added 11 and Jacob Trent had 10.
“They shot the ball better in the second half and got a run going,” Kurtz said. “It seemed like we had a hard time maintaining our focus when we got out to that big lead and we let them back in it.”
On the Mend: Freshman Jared McPeek returned to the lineup for the Flames after missing last weekend with pneumonia. Senior Ryan Smith is still sidelined after re-injuring his surgically repaired knee in last weekend’s loss to St. Peter’s.
“We’re still trying to get totally healthy, but we’re pleased with where we are at,” Kurtz said. “We’ve got two guards (McPeek and B.J. Patrick) that are freshmen and they are learning on the job. It’s nice to win while they are learning.”
Still Battling: The Bulldogs have shown great resiliency despite the 1-11 record. Crestline was 3-20 each of the past two seasons.
“They don’t lay down. As the season has gone on, we’ve been close. We just need to figure out how to win,” Bright said. “We put ourselves in position to win, but we haven’t been able to close the deal.
“A lot of our older guys have told me they are so used to losing that they haven’t figured out how to pull out those wins. If we get it figured out we can be a pretty good team.”
