BUCHANAN — It took a little under four minutes for Dowagiac’s Dontel Highsmith to break the career scoring record for the Chieftains.

It took visiting Dowagiac a lot longer to put away Buchanan in the season opener for both teams Monday night.

Highsmith hit a 3-pointer and then with 4:25 showing on the first quarter clock, scored on a drive to the basket to surpass Chieftain legend Edgar Wilson for the boys’ career scoring mark.

Dowagiac (1-0) got off to a great start, scoring 26 points in the first quarter, but had to hold off a fourth quarter rally by the Bucks before pulling out a 77-64 victory.

Wilson scored 1,371 points in his three-year career at Dowagiac. It took Highsmith three years and one game to surpass Wilson. Highsmith’s game-high 38 points now gives him 1,406 career points. His next plateau is the all-time scoring record of 1,527 points held by Katy Stuppy.

The Chieftains did not have time to celebrate against a Buchanan team that battled them the entire contest. The game wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter, when Highsmith began heading to the basket and drawing foul after foul. He finished the night 12-of-18 from the free throw line, including 10-of-13 in the final quarter.

Buchanan’s Kevin Dey almost single-handedly keep the Bucks in the game in the second half as he scored 22 of his team-high 24 points.

“We jumped up early and then our energy and intensity level went way down,” Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt said. “We made this game harder than it had to be. I commend the Bucks. They never stopped fighting. That’s a tough bunch.

“We went to sleep there on defense (against Dey) a few times. He had a pretty good second half. In fact, he was most of their second half scoring.”

Buchanan coach Reid McBeth agreed with Hunt’s analysis of his squad’s effort.

“We fight for 32 minutes, that’s what we kind of expect for the season,” McBeth said. “We expect them to come out and play hard. We got down there in the first half and it could have been easy for our kids to throw the towel in, but our kids battled back and just stayed confident.

“I think the entire game was a confidence builder for our kids. I just think they didn’t know just how good they have a chance to be.”

Besides Highsmith’s outburst, Dowagiac also got 14 points from his brother Davion Highsmith and 11 points from D.J. Hunt.

Dallis Reynolds finished with 15 points, while Tyler Flynn and Lyman Thomas each scored 11 points.

 

DOWAGIAC 77

Dontel Highsmith 11 12-18 38; Davion Highsmith 6 0-0 14; Bryce Dodd 0 0-0 0; Kyle Solloway 2 2-3 8; Joey Pasternak 1 0-0 2; Todd McIntyre 0 0-0 0; Brendon Murray 1 0-0 2; D.J. Hunt 5 0-0 11; Tyler Clark 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 27 14-21 77

BUCHANAN 64

Tyler Flynn 5 1-2 11; Brandon Gillam 0 1-2 1; Tyler Lenox 0 0-0 0; Kevin Dey 9 3-3 24; Lyman Thomas 4 2-2 11; Blake Graber 0 0-0 0; Dallis Reynolds 6 3-3 15; Alex Leiter 0 2-4 2; Doug Freeman 0 0-0 0; Carsten McCarty 0 0-0 0; Alex Guzman 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 12-18 64

 

Dowagiac 26 42 57 77

Buchanan 13 26 44 64

3-point goals: Dowagiac 9 (Do. Highsmith 4, Da. Highsmith 2, Solloway 2, Hunt), Buchanan 4 (Dey 3, Thomas). Total fouls (fouled out): Dowagiac 17 (none), Buchanan 18 (Flynn, Freeman). Technical fouls: None. Varsity records: Dowagiac 1-0, Buchanan 0-1