By TOM NYHUIS
Vigilant/Argus

BUCHANAN – The Class B District championship teams were set after Wednesday night’s (March 10) semifinal boys basketball action.

In the first semifinal game at Buchanan High School, Lakeshore over came 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.

Lakeshore…52
St. Joseph…49
Lakeshore erased a 13-point deficit with a minute to play in the 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 the team 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 head 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’s ends its 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.

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

Berrien 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

Class C at Centreville
CENTREVILLE – The tide of the Cassopolis-Constantine Class C District basketball game turned in the third quarter on a technical.

Constantine, which went on to capture the championship, trailed the Rangers 31-23 at the half, but wasted little time knotting up the game with nearly six minutes left in the third quarter when a Cass player was whistled for a technical foul, which led to four Falcon free throws.

Constantine went on to defeat the Rangers 65-56.

The Rangers trailed 12-10 after one quarter of play, but outscored the Falcons 21-11 in the second quarter to open up a 31-23 advantage at the intermission.

Constantine held a 19-11 advantage in the scoring column in the third quarter and then poured in 23 points in the final eight minutes to pull away to the 11-point victory.

While the total field goals was just 23-21 in favor of the Falcons, the Rangers did not have a 3-point basket compared to four for Constantine.

The Falcons were 15-of-19 from the free throw line, while the Rangers were 14-of-18.

Stefan Luckey paced Cass with 16 points. Steven Eleazer finished wtih 14.

Jake Bower led all scorers with 25 points for Constantine, which also got 15 points from Christian Coleman and 14 points from Robbie Balentine.

CASSOPOLIS 56
Stefan Luckey 16; Nate Hartline 2; Tyler Gilliam 2; Jacob Lee 4; Steven Eleazer 14; Oliver Fiala 2; Chris Pompey 3; Tommy First 13. TOTALS: 21 14-18 56
CENTREVILLE 65
Jake Bower 25; Ron Fancher 2; Christian Coleman 15; Robbie Balentine 14; Payton White 4; Schott Sehy 5. TOTALS: 23 15-19 65

Cassopolis 10 31 42 56
Constantine 12 23 42 65
3-point baskets: Cassopolis 0, Constantine 4 (Bower 3, Sehy 1). Total fouls: Cassopolis 19, Constantine 18. Varsity records: Cassopolis 6-14, Constantine 13-9