By By MICHAEL BASHARA / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN -- The Buchanan Bucks basketball team used a big third quarter to run away from the River Valley Mustangs 67-31 in the first round of the Class C District Tournament at Buchanan High School Monday night.
Buchanan went on a 15-0 run to start the second half, and outscored the Mustangs 28-2 in the third quarter. Buchanan also hit five 3-point shots in the third quarter to establish an outside game.
The game started with Gordon Bryant hitting a 3-point basket at 7:02 in the first period. River Valley's Danny Baker scored inside to close the gap. Then at 4:11 River Valley's Caleb Dryden hit a 3-point basket to put the Mustangs up 5-3.
Tony Robinson dunked the ball on the Bucks' next possession to tie the score. River Valley's Jason Schaeffer hit a jump shot to put the Mustangs up 7-5 at the 3:01 mark of the first quarter.
Buchanan's Zach Bonham scored twice to put Buchanan up 9-7. River Valley's Dryden answer with a shot from the baseline to tie the score again. Bonham scored the final basket of the quarter to put the Bucks up 11-9.
The second quarter saw the Bucks extend the lead. P.J. Pollock hit his first 3-point basket, and Robinson, Bryant, and Bonham all scored in the second period.
The Bucks had a 12-9 rebounding advantage in the first half. They also had a small advantage on turnovers--six for River Valley and only three for the Bucks. The third quarter saw the Mustangs turn the ball over nine times before the Bucks' first turnover. When the game ended River Valley had 26 turnovers to 11 for the Bucks.
The fourth quarter saw both coaches use a lot of players. Buchanan scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter. Jacob Brown scored inside, Bryant scored on a layup, DuJuan Bennett hit 1-of-2 free throws and Karl Schmidt scored from the high post for Buchanan.
Buchanan outrebounded River Valley 15-5 in the second half. Buchanan was led in scoring by Robinson with 15 points and five rebounds. Bryant had 14 points, four steals, and three rebounds. Bonham scored nine points and had six rebounds. Buchanan got scoring from 10-out of-15 players.
Dryden led River Valley (11-10) with 14 points.
Buchanan (10-11) will now face Bridgman Wednesday night with the game starting at 7 p.m.