By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ
Niles Daily Star

Friday night’s Lakeland Conference boys’ basketball action had the Coloma Comets against the Brandywine Bobcats, in a game that pitted two teams each trying to find their place in the league.

Unfortunately for both teams, the place they would find themselves coming into the night was tied for last.

Following the Comets’ 56-52 victory, Coloma moves up a notch in the standings.

On paper this appeared to be a great matchup. Coloma came in 3-7 overall with a conference record of 1-4, while the host Bobcats had a 3-5 overall record, and a 1-4 conference record of their own.

The Bobcats, playing in their second game since losing their own big man, junior Jacob Frazier, were going to have their work cut out for them on the boards as the Comets came in bigger, with six of their players standing at least 6-feet-2.

The home team however was up for the challenge.

The first period definitely paced the evening and both teams knew it was going to be a battle.

Dustin Bell led the way for the Bobcats, while Dan Vollrath led the visiting Comets, each of them scoring six points in the first stanza.

After the first eight minutes of play the Comets led the ‘Cats by a count of 17-12.
The second stanza saw much of the same back and forth action as both teams were able to put some points on the board.

The Comets were led by four points from Jordan Burrell, while the Bobcats got a spark from junior guard Lance Prescott with seven of his team-high 13 points coming in the second period.

Sophomore forward Austin Searles, who was called up earlier in the week to try and help absorb the loss of Frazier, scored two points in the first half, but they were arguably the most exciting points of the half.

Searles took the rebound of a missed Coloma free throw, with seven seconds remaining in the half, the length of the court and hit a baseline drive as the horn sounded to give the host Bobcats a 30-28 halftime advantage and some much needed momentum going into the second half of action.

Both teams came out of the locker room looking to make something happen and looking for someone to step up.

For the home team, they had two players step up their play in the third period as Searles stayed hot, scoring the first four of the second half, while Jesse McCombs pitched in four of his own.

For the Comets, Vollrath poured in five of his game-high 18 in the third, and two of their big men were hitting the boards hard. T.J Scott and Cortez Childs were both crashing hard on the boards, and in turn were getting Brandywine into foul trouble. Coloma led 42-40 after the periods of play.

The final period of play would not disappoint, unless you were cheering for the home team. In the fourth and final period, Brandywine would outscore Coloma 12-9 from the field.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the Comets would outscore the ‘Cats 5-0 from the charity stripe. Those five points turned out to be the difference in the game.

Searles paced the Bobcats in the fourth period with six points, including a 3-point bomb with 30.1 remaining to cut Coloma’s five point lead down to just two. Brandywine would have at least three more chances to tie the game before two Coloma free throws would give them an insurmountable four-point lead.

On those three possessions Brandywine would miss a layup, miss two free throws, and would turn the ball over by stepping out of bounds on the sideline.

“Self-destruction” were the two words that Brandywine coach Nathan Knapp used to define what happened down the stretch.

“We had every opportunity to take control of the game, it’s just one thing after another and we seem to find ways to shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said.

Coloma improves to 4-7 overall, and 2-4 in the conference, while the Bobcats fall to 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

The Bobcats will host River Valley on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. and then host New Buffalo on Monday night at 7:30.

COLOMA 56
S. Swihart 1 0-0 2; D. Archifald 0 0-0 0; D. Vollrath 6 2-5 16; C. Herman 0 2-4 2; D. Swanigan 4 1-2 9; T.J. Scott 6 1-8 13; J. Burrell 2 0-1 4; T. Dye 1 0-0 2; C. Childs 1 6-6 8. TOTALS: 21 12-26 56
BRANDYWINE 52
Corey Luhrsen 0 0-0 0; Cody Udell 4 0-2 8; Jesse McCombs 2 0-0 4; Dustin Sater 1 0-0 3; Lance Prescott 5 2-3 13; Stone Hadley 0 0-0 0; Dustin Bell 5 2-4 12; Austin Searles 5 0-0 12. TOTALS: 20 4-11 52
Coloma 17 28 42 56
Brandywine 12 30 40 52
3-point baskets: Coloma 2 (Vollrath 2), Brandywine 4 (Sater 1, Prescott 1, Searles 2).
Total fouls: Coloma 14, Brandywine 20. Fouled out: Prescott (BW).