By ERIKA PICKLES
Dowagiac Daily News

The Dowagiac boys’ basketball team couldn’t stay out of foul trouble during Friday night’s Wolverine Conference game against Three Rivers as the Wildcats walked away with a 69-63 victory.

This was the Chieftains’ first game back since it’s Dec. 19 loss to Gull Lake.

Dowagiac committed 26 fouls on the night. The Wildcats didn’t exactly have the best ending total either, as they had 20 of their own. The Chiefs went 19-of-23 at the line, while Three Rivers went 25-of-31.

After the first quarter, the Chieftains had already racked up nine fouls and put Wildcat players on the charity line eight times. Three Rivers went 8-of-9 in the quarter on free throws, something head coach Danum Hunt was not too pleased about.

“We cannot let them have that many free shots. They have 10 extra points that they shouldn’t have right now,” Hunt said to his players after the quarter.

In the second, Dowagiac played a much smoother defense, only sending two players to the line. However, the Wildcats relied heavily on their outside shooting game to go ahead of the Chiefs by as many as 14 points with just over two minutes left in the half.

Back to back 3-pointers from Drew Shutes and Aaron Spence, and eight points from Thomas O’Dell sparked a 36-31 lead at the end of the second.

Dowagiac’s Tremail Butcher knocked down two of his three 3-pointers in the first two periods for Dowagiac.

The Chieftains, who had not led since the opening of the first quarter, picked up their second lead of the night at the 2:33 mark of the third.

Dontel Highsmith, who ended the night with 22 points, pushed Dowagiac ahead, 46-45, after making back-to-back buckets, plus a free throw with just under three minutes on the clock.

Butcher’s final three of the night came at the 1:17 mark, which contributed to Dowagiac’s 49-48 lead heading into the fourth.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs the lead was short lived.

Three Rivers out-scored Dowagiac 21-15 in the final period and, despite giving up six points at the charity line, still walked away with the win.

“The guys are just now getting into the swing of things and I like the way they are playing. You figure, most of them still played football up until one week before the season started and I think they are finally getting into basketball mode now,” Wildcat assistant Jason Bigaman said.

Dowgiac, now 2-2 overall, 2-2 in the conference, will face Otsego Tuesday night on the road.

Troy Butcher ended the night with 11 points for Dowagiac, while Chris Craft had 10.
Three Rivers, now 3-3, had four players score in double digits.

Shutes had 17 points, including three 3-pointers, O’Dell had 14, Spence had 13 and Alex Foster added 11.

DOWAGIAC 63
Dontel Highsmith 3 2 12-10 22, Troy Butcher 1 1 4-4 9, Andrew Cripe 0 0-0 0, Jason Turner 1 1 0-0 5, Chris Craft 3 1 3-1 10, Brian DeLong 0 0-0 0, Tremail Butcher 0 3 2-2 11, Henry Neumann 0 0-0 0, Pierre Reed 0 0-0 0, Darius Wilson 2 0-0 4, Damone Huff 0 2-2 2. Totals: 10 8 23-19 63
THREE RIVERS 69
Aaron Spence 1 1 8-8 13, Dan Shutes 0 0-0 0, Drew Shutes 2 3 5-4 17, Brandon Wilson 1 2-0 2, Alex Foster 3 8-5 11, Aaron Vedmore 3 1-0 6, Colin Muehlberger  0 0-0 0, Thomas O’Dell 6 9-2 14, Isaiah Bosma 2 0-0 4, Marco Drayton 0 0-0 0, Kyle Lokar 0 2-2 2, Jack McIntee 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 4 21-35 69

Dowagiac 13 31 49 63
Three Rivers 16 36 48 69
3-pointers: Dowagiac 8 (Tremail Butcher 3, Highsmith 2, Troy Butcher 1, Craft 1), Three Rivers 4 ( Drew Shutes 3, Spence 1). Total fousl: Dowagiac 26, Three Rivers 20. Fouled out: None. Records: Dowagiac 2-2, 2-2 Wolverine; Three Rivers 3-3, 1-2 Wolverine