By SCOTT NOVAK
Dowagiac Daily News

For one half Friday night, the Dowagiac boys’ basketball team found out it could play at the same level as Wolverine Conference leading Gull Lake.

Unfortunately the Chieftains also found out that you have to maintain that level to win a basketball game.

Dowagiac (4-8, 4-7 Wolverine) trailed just 29-27 at halftime and were playing at a high level against the Blue Devils.

But over the final two quarters, Gull Lake was able to outscore the Chieftains 31-22, led by a career-high 30 points from Trent Messer in a 60-49 victory.

Messer scored 18 of those points in the second half.

“We came out in the second half and kind of went to sleep,” Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt said. “We got dominated on the boards and that kind of lost the game for us.

“We were kind of able to contain him (Messer) a bit in the first half. We went with a little match up zone there, but in the second half we just didn’t have the effort there. We lost focus. We just lost focus for some reason. The effort wasn’t there and we let him get too many open looks,” he added.

Hunt was happy with the performance of his team in the opening 16 minutes of play, but is still trying to get his players to understand that it takes that kind of effort for the entire contest.

“I saw our ability to compete,” he said. “I see we are able to compete on that level and that’s what I want the guys to take away from this. In order to start winning, we first have to learn to compete. It’s a process. It’s just a matter of picking it up and going 32 minutes and I think we will get to where we want to be.”

Gull Lake jumped out to an early 17-10 lead on the Chieftains, who battled back in the second quarter and cut the lead to just two points heading to the locker room.

In the second half, the Blue Devils came out of the gate quickly and built up a seven-point advantage heading to the final quarter.

Dowagiac was outscored 16-11 in the third quarter and 15-11 in the final eight minutes as Gull Lake pulled away for the victory.

The outcome was certainly more respectable than the first meeting between these two teams back in December.

The Blue Devils rolled to a 102-76 win over the Chieftains.

Taylor Schultz was the only other Gull Lake player to reach double figures Friday night as he finished with 12 points.

Dowagiac got 12 points from both Dontel Highsmith and Damone Huff.

D.J. Hunt and Chris Craft came off the bench to net nine and eight points respectively.

Dowagiac jumps right back into Wolverine Conference play on Tuesday night as it hosts Plainwell.

GULL LAKE 60
Ryan Solt 0 0-0 0; Taylor Schultz 4 3-7 12; Xavier Prather 0 0 0-0 0; Jalen Ford 0 0-0 0; Adrian Zuidweg 2 1-2 5; Jason Schau 1 3-5 5; John Jacobson 0 0-0 0; Trent Messer 10 10-13 30; Adam Peters 2 0-0 4; Joe Walbridge 1 2-4 4. TOTALS: 20 19-31 60
DOWAGIAC 49
Dontel Highsmith 5 2-2 12; Troy Butcher 1 0-0 3; Andrew Cripe 0 0-0 0; Jason Turner 0 0-0 0; Tremail Butcher 1 0-0 2; D.J. Hunt 3 0-1 9; Pierre Reed 0 0-0 0; Darius Wilson 1 0-0 2; Damone Huff 4 2-2 12; Cody Cox 0 1-2 1; Chris Craft 3 0-0 8. TOTALS: 18 5-7 49

Gull Lake 17 29 45 60
Dowagiac 10 27 38 49
3-point baskets: Gull Lake 1 (Schultz), Dowagiac 8 (Tro. Butcher 1, Hunt 3, Huff 2, Craft 2). Total fouls: Gull Lake 11. Dowagiac 21. Fouled out: None. Varsity records: Gull Lake 12-2, 12-0 Wolverine; Dowagiac 4-8, 4-7 Wolverine