By SCOTT NOVAK
Dowagiac Daily News

Just when it looked as if the Dowagiac boys’ basketball team was going to cruise to a easy Wolverine Conference victory Friday night, visiting Vicksburg had other ideas.

A 27-point fourth quarter nearly allowed the Bulldogs to rally for the win, but the Chieftains held on for an 81-73 victory, which squared its record to 3-3 overall and in league play.

The loss dropped Vicksburg to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference.

A close game through the first two quarters, Dowagiac opened up a huge lead in the third quarter only to give it back in the final eight minutes of action.

With the Chieftains up eight at the half (40-32), Dowagiac tossed in 22 points and opened up a 20-point margin in the third quarter.

Vicksburg was able to get the lead down to 62-46 by the end of the period and continued the comeback bid in the fourth.

Midway through the third quarter, an alley-oop dunk by Darius Wilson really got the Chieftains rolling.

But behind the play of Kris Chesser and Kyle Johnson, who finished with a game-high 26 points, the Bulldogs made a run at the Chieftains, getting the lead down to six points on a couple of occasions late in the contest.

Dowagiac was able to connect on eight of its 17 fourth quarter free throws to hold off Vicksburg for the victory.

Both teams came out on fire and combined for 39 first quarter points with the Chieftains holding a 21-18 advantage.

Dowagiac held a 19-14 advantage in scoring in the second quarter to increase its lead to 40-32 at halftime.

Freshman Dontel Highsmith led the Chieftains with 16 points, while Jason Turner finished with 15, Wilson 13, Damone Huff 12 and Troy Butcher 10.

All of Turners points came on five 3-pointers as Dowagiac finished with 10 triples as a team.
Tremail Butcher chipped in with nine points.
Vicksburg also got 14 points from Chesser and 13 points from Sam Danielson.

VICKSBURG 73
Scotty Schimp 0 0-0 0; Kris Chesser 4 4-9 14; Bill Hubbard 1 0-0 2; Kyle Johnson 7 11-14 26; Tucker Callanan 2 0-0 4; Abe Barwegen 3 1-2 8; Aaron McGuire 1 0-0 2; Dan Schriemer 0 0-0 0; Alex Dailey 2 0-0 4; Sam Danielson 5 3-4 13. TOTALS: 25 19-29 73
DOWAGIAC 81
Dontel Highsmith 5 6-10 16; Troy Butcher 5 0-0 10; Andrew Cripe 0 0-0 0; Jason Turner 5 0-0 15; Chris Craft 2 1-2 6; Tremail Butcher 3 1-1 9; Pierre Reed 0 0-1 0; Darius Wilson 3 6-8 13; Damone Huff 5 1-2 12; Cody Cox 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 28 15-27 81.

Vicksburg 18 32 46 73
Dowagiac 21 40 62 81
3-point baskets: Vicksburg 4 (Chesser 2, Johnson, Barwegen), Dowagiac 10 (Turner 5, Craft, Tremail Butcher 2, Wilson, Huff). Total fouls: Dowagiac 25, Vicksburg 22. Fouled out: Danielson (V), Troy Butcher (D). Varsity records: Vicksburg 3-5, 3-3 Wolverine; Dowagiac 3-3, 3-3 in Wolverine

Dowagiac…63
Niles…64
NILES – A pair of timely 3-pointers by Niles sophomore Austin Parks, a drive to the basket for a score by junior Myles Busby and a steal with four seconds remaining by junior Quintin Irby helped the host Vikings defeat Dowagiac 64-43 Saturday night.

Parks knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers turned a four-point deficit for Niles into a 61-59 lead with 3:25 to play in the non-league contest.

The Chieftains would regain the lead one last time, but Busby drove the lane and rolled in a shot to make it 64-63 with 50 ticks remaining in the contest.

Following an offensive foul on David Garner, his fifth, with 13.6 seconds left, Dowagiac had one more chance at pulling out the victory.

After a timeout with 10.6 left to play, the Chieftains turned the ball over to Irby near the top of the key and that was that.

“On that final play what we were trying to do was spread the court a little bit and get an opportunity to attack the basket with our point guard,” Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt said. “If we couldn’t do that we had a set play to get a short open jump shot.”

The game was close throughout with neither team opening up more than a six-point lead. The contest was tied numerous times and the lead changed hands eight times, including six in the second half.

Niles led 14-11 after the first quarter and 31-29 at the break. But Dowagiac was able to outscore the Vikings 20-17 in the third quarter to grab a 49-48 advantage.

Garner led all scorers with 26 points, many of which came in the paint.

“We thought David had a chance to be unstoppable in the lane with his strength,” Niles coach Todd Pawielski. “Coach (Steve) Grayson has done a great job in the weight room with our kids. He (Garner) was able to muscle inside for some hard earned baskets.”
Niles also got 13 points from Parks and eight points from Irby. Matthew McLaughlin, whose father Larry was a standout at Dowagiac, finished with seven points.

“Austin I thought really played big when the game was on the line,” Pawielski said. “He’s probably the hero tonight because he kind of gave us life when things easily could have gone the other way. He’s a good shooter and did what good shooters do.”

Dowagiac was led by Chris Craft’s 13 points. The Chieftains also got 12 points from Tremail Butcher and 10 points from Troy Butcher.

Dowagiac is back in action on Tuesday night as it travels to South Haven for a Wolverine Conference contest.

The freshmen game will kick off the evening at 4:15 p.m. with the junior varsity and varsity contests to follow.

Dowagiac will remain on the road against Paw Paw on Jan. 22, Comstock on Jan. 26 and Allegan on Jan. 29.

The next Chieftain home game will be on Friday, Feb. 2 when it hosts Gull Lake.
Niles is back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Marshall for a Big 16 Conference non-divistional match-up.
DOWAGIAC 63
Darius Wilson 3 1-1 8, Jason Turner 1 2-4 4, Tremail Butcher 5 1-3 12, Troy Butcher 4 2-3 10, Dontel Highsmith 2 4-6 8, Damone Huff 2 0-0 4, Chris Craft 6 0-0 13, Pierre Reed 1 0-0 2, Cody Cox 1 0-0 2, Andrew Cripe 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 10-17 63
NILES 64
David Garner 10 6-10 26, Mitch Peterek 0 0-0 0, Austin Parks 5 0-1 13, Nick Lucero 2 1-2 5, Matthew McLaughlin 2 1-2 7, Quintin Irby 4 0-2 8, Myles Busby 1 3-4 5, Jordan Potthoff 0 0-0 0, Riley Robson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 11-21 54

Dowagiac 11 29 49 63
Niles 14 31 48 64
3-point goals: Dowagiac 3 (Wilson, Tremail Butcher, Craft), Niles 5 (Parks 3, McLaughlin). Total fouls: Dowagiac 18, Niles 16. Fouled out: Garner (N). Varsity records: Dowagiac 3-4, Niles 5-3