By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ
Niles Daily Star

The Mendon Hornets brought their 11-1 record 50 miles down M-60 to take on the depleted, new look Brandywine Bobcats Tuesday night in a non-conference contest.

When the Hornets headed back up the road they took a 65-55 win with them.

The Bobcats called up three players this week from their junior varsity program because of the loss of players from their varsity roster.

The Bobcats have lost Jacob Frazier and Jesse McCombs for the season with ankle and knee injuries respectively. They have lost Cody Udell with an ankle injury for at least two more weeks and to add to their woes, they dismissed Dustin Bell from the team for disciplinary reasons.

With Austin Searles already having been brought up from JV to help fill the void of Frazier, the ‘Cats called up Joe Godfrey, Michael Toxopeus and Aaron Marquardt this week, hoping to add a spark and maybe some chemistry to the team.

“We know we can’t win the conference at this point, but we can still get better for districts,” said Brandywine coach Nathan Knapp.

Godfrey made the most of his first varsity action, at least in the first half. He scored 14 of his team high 18 in the first half, with seven in each of the first two periods. Godfrey and Lance Prescott combined for all 12 of Brandywine’s first quarter points, while the Hornets had balanced scoring with five players having at least two points each.

The Bobcats trailed the Hornets 13-12 after the first eight minutes of action.

In the second period, Searles knocked down his first points of the game with a 3-pointer from the wing to give Brandywine a 27-24 lead with 1:29 to play in the half. Mendon would answer with a 3-pointer from C.J. Nightingale to tie the game with just under a minute left.

Prescott would hit a lay-up with 13.6 seconds remaining to give the home team a 29-27 halftime advantage.

The third period was all Mendon. The Hornets outscored the Bobcats by a score of 21-9 in the third stanza, taking a 48-38 lead into the final period.

Nightingale scored five points in the quarter, including another 3-pointer, on his way to a game-high 20 points, despite missing much of the first quarter as punishment for missing school yesterday because of a football recruiting trip.

Trailing by 10 entering the final eight minutes, Brandywine’s “new” varsity players would help cut the lead down to three with 1:37 to play.

Marquardt and Toxopeus each knocked down a bomb from behind the 3-point line, while Godfrey would go 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

Prescott would lead the Bobcats in the final period with five of his 16 points, but it wasn’t enough, as Mendon would knock down 11-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter, including six in the last 40 seconds.

To put that in perspective, Brandywine shot 11-of-15 free throws in the whole game.

The Bobcats lost by 10 on the scoreboard, but the game was definitely closer than that on the floor and afterwards coach Knapp was happy about his teams’ performance.

“I am happy with the attitude of the kids and the way they hustled tonight. They played well. We are young and we have half a season to get ready for districts.”

MENDON 65
Tim Slaughter 5 1-4 12, Zeke Gregory 5 2-4 12, Nic Huff 0 2-2 2, Glen Batten 3 6-6 13, Ethan Eberstein 1 0-2 2, C.J. Nightingale 7 4-5 20, Derek Brueck 2 0-0 4, Tony Riley 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 15-23 65
BRANDYWINE 55
Joe Godfrey 6 6-8 18, Austin Searles 2 0-0 6, Aaron Marquardt 1 0-0 3, Lance Prescott 5 5-5 16, Stone Hadley 3 0-0 6, Mykal Toxopeus 1 0-0 3, Dustin Sater 1 0-2 3, Corey Luhrsen 0 0-0 0.TOTALS 19 11-15 55

Mendon 13 27 48 65
Brandywine 12 29 38 55
3-point baskets: Mendon 4 (Nightingdale 2, Slaughter 1, Batten 1), Brandywine 6 (Searles 2, Prescott 1, Toxopeus 1, Sater 1, Marquardt 1). Total fouls: Mendon 11, Brandywine 19. Fouled out: None. Varsity records: Mendon 12-1, Brandywine 4-9. J.V. score: Mendon 56, Brandywine 45