By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN -- Defense and balance and defense allowed the Buchanan varsity basketball team to repeat as Class C District champions Saturday night with a 76-52 win over Brandywine.
The Bucks got scoring from nine players and three reached double figures. Buchanan also forced Brandywine into 29 turnovers which created easy transition scoring opportunities for the Bucks.
Shooting wasn't a problem for junior point guard Brian Shannon who led all scorers with a career-high 24 points. He scored 10 of those points, including two 3-pointers, in the second quarter as the Bucks outscored Brandywine 23-13.
Brandywine coach Dave Sidenbender admitted Shannon wasn't a focus of his team's defensive strategy Saturday night.
Robinson finished with 17 points and Bryant scored 13 for the Bucks.
When the Buchanan pressure was broken, Brandywine was able to produce points in its half-court offense. Andy Low finished with 21 points for the Bobcats and Casey Udell scored 11 as Brandywine made seven 3-pointers.
The Bobcats committed eight turnovers in each of the first three quarters as Buchanan slowly but surely built a 21-point lead.
Buchanan, now 12-11 overall, plays Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Class C Regional Tournament at Bangor High School against Hartford. Kalamazoo Christian and White Pigeon square off in the other semifinal Tuesday night.
Brandywine, which entered the tournament with a record of 7-13, put together a rare winning streak to reach the championship game and finished the year with a record of 9-14. Sidenbender was proud of his team's tournament run.