By TOM NYHUIS
Niles Daily Star

BUCHANAN – The Class B District championship game teams are now set after Wednesday night’s semifinal boys basketball action.

In the first semifinal game at Buchanan High School, Lakeshore overcame an early 17-0 run by St. Joseph to pull out 52-49 thriller over the Bears.

In the evening’s second contest to decide the team to face the Lancers, Berrien Springs’ 23-0 run in the first half gave them a large enough lead to hold on for a 50-41 win to advance into the title game on Friday at 7 p.m.

Lakeshore…52
St. Joseph…49
Lakeshore erased a 13-point deficit with a minute to play in the second quarter and outscored the Bears in the final eight minutes, 20-11, to move into Friday’s district championship game.

The Bears trailed early on as the Lancers opened the game with an 8-0 start. From there it was all St. Joseph as they took control of the game for the rest of the first half rolling off a 17-0 run that began in the first quarter with 2:46 to play.

The Lancers would not add to their total until there were just 17 seconds to play in the first half, those on a pair of free throw tosses by Hayden Davis leaving the Lancers trailing by seven 17-10.

St. Joe tacked on three points on a Jeremy Rush basket and free throw with 12 seconds left in the half and headed into the final 16 minutes of play up by 10 (20-10).

In the second half Ryan Avery sparked the Lakeshore offense early in the third quarter and Josh Lange got hot from 3-point land in the final three minutes of the period and tied the game at 32 points apiece with just under a minute to play.

The Bears finished out the final 45 seconds scoring five and heading into the final quarter with a 38-32 lead.

The Bears would cling to the slim lead through most of the fourth. The Lancers would knot the game at 47 after a pair of charity tosses by Avery.

Sean Guinane would give the lead back to the Bears, 49-47, with 1:20 remaining. Shortly after that bucket, Guinane would foul out of the game. With 13 seconds to play, Avery hit what proved to be the game winner coming off a screen for a back door lay up. Avery was also fouled on the play and calmly sank the free throw to give his team a 50-49 advantage.

The Bears’ final shot was rejected by Hayden Davis in the lane and Avery picked up the loose ball and sealed the win knocking down two free throws.

Avery finished the night with a game-high 20 points and Josh Lange contributed to the win with 11 for the 12-9 Lancers.

The Bears, who close out their season with a record of 11-11 were led by David Brennan’s 13. Jeremy Rush and DeVonte Jones finished with 12 and 10 respectively.

LAKESHORE 52
TJ Moneta 7, Jordan Kauffman 6, Josh Lange 11, Loren Johnson 0, Hayden Davis 8, Ryan Avery 20. Totals 19 9-14 52
ST. JOSEPH 49
Nicholas Piggee 8, Jeremy Rush 12, Joshua Schaffer 0, DeVonte Jones 10, David Brennan 13, Sean Guinane 6, Matthew Riemland 0. Totals 16 10-14 49

Lakeshore 8 10 32 52
St. Joesph 5 20 38 49
3-points baskets: Lakeshore 5 (Lange 3, Moneta 1, Avery 1) St. Joesph 7 (Rush 3, N. Piggee 2, Jones 2). Team fouls: Lakeshore 11, St. Joseph 18. Fouled out: Guinane (SJ). Varsity records: Lakeshore 12-9 St. Joseph 11-11.

Berrien Springs…50
Edwardsburg…41
Berrien Springs built a 15 point lead in the first half and led by as many as 18, 46-28, with just under three minutes to play in the game.

Edwardsburg had one final spurt, a 13-4 run, before time ran out on the Eddies hopes to extend their season one more game in a 50-41 loss to the Shamrocks.

“Offensively we struggled,” Edwardsburg coach Dan Gunn said following the setback. “Berrien does a good job defensively and I think they are a little stronger in the paint than the last time we played them. I thought they did a great job inside early and changed the balance of the game.”

Berrien Springs raced out to a 17-7 first quarter lead and the outcome was never in doubt as the Eddies couldn’t find the range, having difficulty putting the ball through the net.
Josh Kozinski paced the Eddies with a game-high 17 and Jake Harroff knocked down 11 as Edwardsburg ends their season with a 12-9 record.

“We came out and got some good shots against their man-to-man defense. We just missed them. If you’re in a 23-0 deficit run it would be easy to hang your head and quit. And they never did and that is why this group had a winning season and I’m proud of that and proud of them,” Gunn said.

Berrien Springs was led by Jeffery Gumbo’s 11, while Mark Westendorp tallied 10 for the victors, who improve to 18-3 and move on to face Lakeshore on Friday for the title tilt scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

BERRIEN SPRINGS 50
Matt Little 2 3-4 7, Nolan O’Brien 0 0-0 0, Tyrice Carter 2 2-4 6, Mark Westendorp 3 1-2 10, Steven Felusme 4 0-0 8, Oluwaseunt Idowu 3 2-4 8, Jonathan Shembarger 0 0-0 0, Jeffery Gumbo 4 3-5 11. Totals 18 11-19 50
EDWARDSBURG 41
Jake Harroff 3 4-7 11, Ethan Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Alex Gardner 0 0-0 0, Dustin Moore 1 0-0 2, Josh Kozinski 5 3-3 17, Zak Eggleston 0 0-0 0, Ron Preston 0 0-0 0, Nick Muir 3 0-0 6, Marcus Albrecht 1 0-0 2, Kyle Dale 1 1-2 3. Totals 14 8-12 41

Berrein Springs 17 27 37 50
Edwardsburg 7 12 20 41
3-point baskets: Berrien Springs 3 (Westendorp 3) Edwardsburg 5 (Kozinski 4, Harroff 1). Team fouls: Berrien Springs 11, Edwardsburg 14. Fouled out: None. Varsity records: Berrien Springs 18-3 Edwardsburg 12-9