By By ROB BABLER / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Sometimes quality is better than quantity.
Struggling with turnovers early in their game against host Brandywine, the Bridgman Bees caught fire in the second quarter to cruise to a 67-46 Lakeland Conference victory Friday.
The Bees only attempted 10 shots that quarter, but made eight of them, including four of five 3-pointers.
Bridgman shot 56 percent from the field. It shot the same percentage from behind the 3-point arc.
Head coach Mike Miller said he was happy his team came to life after a slow start.
In the first four minutes of the game, the Bees had one shot attempt and five turnovers. The Bobcats, however, started the game hustling, getting loose balls and rebounding effectively against the taller Bees. Brandywine took an early 7-2 lead behind 3-pointers from Gene McDonald and Andy Low.
Toward the end of the first quarter, junior Bee Tyler Weaver also hit a 3-pointer to narrow the gap to one, 9-8.
With six minutes to go in the second quarter, Weaver hit a basket to give the Bees a 10-9 lead. Bridgman would never trail again, largely due to Weaver.
With two-and-a-half minutes left in the second quarter, the score was 19-16, Bridgman, when Weaver hit two more of his six 3-pointers (on just eight attempts). Those points, combined with a 3-pointer from senior forward Korey Kuhn (11 points on four-of-five shooting) gave the Bees a 28-16 lead with a minute left. The lead would never fall to less than 10 points beyond that.
Weaver added another couple of 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the third quarter to help push the lead to 40-22.
Miller credited his team's ball movement as the catalyst in the second-quarter offensive fire.
Bobcat coach Dave Sidenbender was disappointed how his team gave Weaver so many open looks at the basket.
He said Brandywine's man-to-man help defense, while usually a good thing, worked against his team in this case.
The Bobcats travel to South Bend Trinity in non-conference action Tuesday.
Bridgman…….67
Brandywine….46
Bridgman: Todd Hendricks 0 2-3 2, Matthew Haughey 1 0-0 2, Josh Seyfred 1 0-0 2, Dan Kunde 5 1-4 11, Corey Kuhn 4 0-0 11, Tyler Weaver 7 5-7 25, Jeremy Padgett 1 0-0 2, Dave Strebeck 0 0-0 0, Nate Lyman 4 4-5 12. Brandywine: Andy Low 6 2-2 17, Casey Udell 2 1-1 7, Gene McDonald 1 0-0 3, Alex Newman 0 1-2 1, Mike Beauchamp 1 7-9 9, Matt Wieger 2 0-0 6, Zach Bennett 0 0-0 0, Danny Rauch 0 0-0 0, Justin Sobecki 0 0-0 0, Brett Shoemaker 1 1-2 3, Mike Nagy 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 12-16 46
Totals: 23 12-19 67
Bridgman 8 22 18 19--67
Brandywine 9 11 9 17--46
3-point shooting: Bridgman 9 (Weaver 6, Kuhn 3), Brandywine 8 (Low 3, Udell 2, Weiger 2, McDonald). Team fouls (fouled oout): Bridgman 19 (none), Brandywine 15 (Udell). Team records: Bridgman 9-5 (6-3 Lakeland), Brandywine 4-10 (2-8)