By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS -- Brandywine varsity basketball coach Dave Sidenbender is at a loss.
Dozens of missed opportunities on offense and an outrageous number of turnovers in a single game will do that to a coach.
The Bobcats went just 17-of-34 from the free throw line and committed 30 turnovers in Friday night's 65-53 loss at Cassopolis in Lakeland Conference action.
It was the first win of the season for the Rangers, which lost to Coloma Tuesday night. Brandywine slipped to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in league play.
The Rangers turned the ball over 24 times and committed 27 fouls, with two players fouling out.
Cassopolis led by just two points, 11-9, at the end of the first period before stretching that lead out to eight points with less than a minute left in the first half. A free throw by Andy Low and a layup by Zach Bennett chopped the lead down to five points at the intermission.
The Rangers' biggest lead of the night was 16 points following a layup by Eric Brown with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter.
The Bobcats committed 16 of their turnovers in the second half.
Senior Simon Ballard and junior Ashton Danzy led a balanced Cassopolis offensive attack with 14 points each. Both also hit three 3-pointers. Brown added 13 points for the Rangers.
Brett Shoemaker led Brandywine with 15 points, but went just 3-of-11 from the free throw line. Andy Low added 13 points.
The Cassopolis junior varsity basketball team beat Brandywine 61-34. David Frazier led the Bobcats with nine points.
The Cassopolis freshmen basketball team beat Brandywine 43-37.
Brandywine is off until Tuesday, Jan. 6, when it hosts Coloma for a Lakeland Conference game.
Cassopolis…..65
Brandywine….53
Cassopolis: Ashton Danzy 4 3-4 14, Eric Brown 4 4-6 13, Simon Ballard 5 1-2 14, Mike Evans 0 2-4 2, Justin Lee 0 0-0 0, Garrit Hemme 0 0-0 0, J.T. Lee 2 1-1 6, Mike Glenn 1 2-2 4, Will Loux 0 4-4 4, Dan Stanage 0 2-4 2, Kirk Baucom 3 0-0 6. Totals: 19 19-27 65
Brandywine: Casey Udell 2 1-1 5, Justin Sobecki 0 0-0 0, Mike Beauchamp 1 3-4 5, Danny Rauch 0 0-0 0, Andy Low 4 4-7 13, Gene McDonald 1 0-0 2, Alex Newman 0 5-8 5, Zach Bennett 1 0-0 2, Brett Shoemaker 6 3-11 15, Matt Weiger 2 1-3 6. Totals: 17 17-34 53
Cassopolis 11 20 21 13--65
Brandywine 9 17 16 11--53
3-point shooting: Cassopolis 8 (Danzy 3, Ballard 3, Brown, J.T. Lee), Brandywine 2 (Weiger, Low). Team fouls (fouled out): Cassopolis 27 (J.T. Lee, Stanage), Brandywine 18 (none). Team records: Cassopolis 1-1 (1-1 Lakeland), Brandywine 1-4 (0-2)