Willard routs Crawford in district rematch

SHELBY — Trey Paxton got it going early.After Colonel Crawford started to contain the explosive shooter, Myles Pinkston kept it going for Willard.The third-seeded Flashes led wire to wire against top-seeded Colonel Crawford, topping the Eagles, 70-48, in a Division III district semifinal at Shelby High School on Thursday."The kids did a nice job of getting out in transition," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "When you are hitting shots early on, it gives them a little more confidence. I thought we did a pretty decent job in the first half of keeping them off of the offensive glass. It got us going in the transition."Willard improved to 19-5 overall and will play for a district championship on Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 2 Western Reserve (19-2)."This is normally how we play," Bedingfield said of the pace of the game. "The game plan was not to be set-orientated and to have more transition. We wanted to draw (Chase) Walker out of the lane a little bit more than we did in the past."The two teams met in the same round last season. That night at Norwalk High School, Colonel Crawford came away with a 59-55 win."We did a nice job early of spacing the floor," said Bedingfield, who also earned his 100th career win on Thursday. "That was the big thing we talked about is creating space. I thought Colonel Crawford last year did such a good job of clogging the lane."Micah Dawson and Pinkston opened the scoring for Willard before Carter Valentine hit a triple for Colonel Crawford (23-1). Paxton responded with the first of his barrage of 3s before Pinkston scored again. Paxton hit another triple to boost the lead to 12-5.The Eagles cut within five points, but consecutive triples from Paxton opened a double-digit lead for the Flashes. Pinkston picked a steal and scored and Paxton's fifth 3-pointer of the quarter gave Willard a 23-8 lead after eight minutes."He had a game like that against Margaretta that won us a league championship," Bedingfield said of Paxton. "When Trey feels it, you have to let him go. It is a players game, and players have to go win the game."Valentine scored off of an offensive rebound early in the second quarter, but it was the last time the tough guard would score. On the other end, Adelman scored and Micah Dawson drained a 3 for a 28-13 edge. Walker scored down low for the Eagles, but Willard ripped off the next 15 points to balloon the advantage to 43-15.The Flashes led 43-18 at halftime and continued the onslaught. Adelman hit a field goal and Pinkston connected on two free throws for a 47-18 lead. Pinkston scored again before Dawson's bucket made it 51-18. Later, scores from Pinkston and Cole Weiss gave Willard a 55-20 lead, enforcing the 35-point running clock."Colonel Crawford is such an excellent basketball team," Bedingfield said. "They had an excellent season. It is very reminiscent of what we were last year. Our kids came in and played loose. They have such a good program."The Flashes held a 31-23 rebounding edge while each team committed 10 turnovers. Only two of Willard's turnovers came in the first half."Chase got hot there in the second half," Bedingfield said. "He is a load. He does a great job on the inside, but Austin Adelman had a tough matchup with (Bryce) Reynolds from Elmwood too last week. Austin does a great job. He can defend on the inside and defend multiple positions."Pinkston paced the Flashes with 22 points and 12 rebounds."We knew we had to push the ball in transition," Pinkston said. "It is nice when Trey is hitting shots because it opens the floor for everyone else."Paxton finished with 17 points while Dawson added 11 points and six rebounds. Adelman and Jake Cok each scored seven points."It had nothing to do with who we played," Bedingfield said of choosing Colonel Crawford's half of the district bracket. "It was everything to do with our seniors. We had an opportunity to play two home games and that is what it was all about. They are all good teams at this point." WILLARD (19-5) Trey Paxton 7-0—19, Cole Weiss 1-0—2, Austin Adelman 3-1—7, Myles Pinkston 9-4—22, Micah Dawson 4-2—11, Jake Cok 2-2—7, Trey Mock 1-0—2. TOTALS 27-9—70. COLONEL CRAWFORD (23-1) Mason Studer 2-4—8, Nolan McKibben 2-0—6, Carter Valentine 2-2—7, Chase Walker 4-10—18, Carson Feichtner 2-0—4, Drayton Burkhart 1-0—3, Mason McKibben 1-0—2. TOTALS 14-16—48. Willard 23 20 16 11 — 70 Crawford 8 10 13 17 — 48 3-point FGs: (W) Paxton 5, Dawson, Cok; (CC) N. McKibben 2, Valentine, Burkhart