YORK TWP. — Buckeye helped the Oberlin Phoenix look like the Phoenix Suns in the second quarter Tuesday night.

At least that was the case at the offensive end. From a defensive standpoint, Oberlin looked like the old “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons for those eight minutes.

Doing whatever it wanted whenever it wanted, the Phoenix outscored the Bucks 26-4 in the period and cruised to a 61-44 Patriot Athletic Conference crossover victory.

“It was like quicksand,” said Buckeye coach Matt Saunders, whose team made just five field goals in falling behind 40-17 at the half.

For Oberlin (7-4, 5-4), the second quarter was like a track meet, as it forced six turnovers, got easy buckets in transition, dominated on the glass and executed its half-court offense to perfection when it needed to, which wasn’t often.

Six-foot-4 center Trevon Tucker, who led the Phoenix with 17 points and 15 rebounds, had eight points in the period, while shooting guard Jason Moore, who finished with 11 points and five boards, added six.

Toss in four apiece from Marcus Bailey (six points, five rebounds) and Dominic Taylor (nine points, six rebounds, three assists) and Oberlin was off to the races.

“That second quarter was probably our best quarter of the season,” Phoenix coach Kurt Russell said. “We were aggressive and we played as a team. We spread the wealth.”

Buckeye, which played without starting power forward Joe Galaszewski (illness), tried to spread the floor and drive and kick, but when the Bucks weren’t throwing the ball away, they were clanking jumpers. Buckeye made just one field goal and was 2-for-6 at the line in the second period (and 7-for-15 from the stripe for the night).

“We weren’t aggressive and we didn’t play physical,” Saunders said. “In that stretch, in the (physical and mental) toughness part of the game, we got beat bad.”

The Bucks actually led 13-11 late in the first period, but a 3-pointer by Noland Isom (nine points, four rebounds, two assists) with 31 seconds left started a 29-4 Oberlin run.

Buckeye scored the first five points of the second half to get within 18, but it took 2:19 to do it and Oberlin soon had its lead back up to 21.

An 8-0 fourth-quarter run that got the Bucks within 55-40 with 2:55 left was purely for cosmetic purposes, as this game was essentially over at halftime, at which point Tucker had 10 points and eight boards.

“We couldn’t do anything with him,” Saunders said. “He really hurt us in the paint.”

When Tucker wasn’t overpowering Buckeye inside, he was making 16-foot baseline jumpers.

“He does that every night,” Russell said. “He’s a hard matchup. He shoots the ball decent and he’s strong enough to score in the paint.”

Buckeye’s best player was guard Bill Doerge, who had eight of his 13 points in the first period to keep his team in the game. Doerge also finished with a game-high four assists.

Small forward Garrett Beck added 10 points, eight rebounds and two assists — eight of his points came after the Bucks were down 23 — and guard Ben Checkelsky had eight points, 10 boards and two assists.

Oberlin 61 Buckeye 44

OBERLIN (61): Marcus Bailey 3-0-6, Dominic Taylor 3-3-9, Trevon Tucker 8-1-17, Jason Moore 4-3-11, Tyree Browne 1-0-2, Charles Lewis 2-0-4, Cole Gregory 0-0-0, Noland Isom 3-2-9, DeShaun Horton 1-0-3. Totals 25-9-61.

BUCKEYE (44): Garrett Beck 5-0-10, Matt Cox 1-1-3, Jeff Miller 0-1-1, Bill Doerge 3-4-13, Ben Checkelsky 4-0-8, Curtis Kinney 1-1-3, Cory Inman 0-0-0, Nick Prest 2-0-4, Mike Bacho 1-0-2. Totals 17-7-44.

Oberlin 14 26 9 12 — 61

Buckeye 13 4 13 14 — 44

Three-point goals: Isom, Horton, Doerge 3. Rebounds: Oberlin 44 (Tucker 15), Buckeye 35 (Checkelsky 10). Assists: Oberlin 9 (Taylor 3), Buckeye 13 (Doerge 4).

Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com.

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