By By ROB BABLER / Niles Daily Star
BRIDGMAN - Often times, the outcome of a basketball game will hinge on one or two key plays.
Mike Miller, coach of the Bridgman Bees, had a different take on his team's 52-49 loss to Buchanan Friday night.
Miller was referencing the 14 turnovers his team committed in the second half. Those 14 turnovers led to 20 Buchanan points, which helped the Bucks to overcome an 11-point deficit.
The Bucks' win at Bridgman knotted the Lakeland Conference race. Buchanan, Coloma and Bridgman each have one loss in leading the conference.
The game started with a contrast in styles. The Bees set up a 2-3 zone defensively, and looked to make the game a half-court contest. Buchanan, meanwhile, pressed when it had the opportunity, and played man-to-man defense, hoping to pick up the tempo of the game.
The first quarter was low scoring, as neither team shot well. Bridgman had a little trouble with Buchanan's press, but took the lead, 5-4, on a Tyler Weaver steal with two minutes left in the quarter. The Bees opened up a 10-6 lead with less than a minute left in the quarter, but Buck
forward Tony Robinson, who led his team with 17 points, narrowed that lead to 10-8 off a Bridgman turnover.
Buchanan tied the game at 10-10 early in the second quarter off a Jimmy Washington basket, only to see Bridgman reel off eight unanswered points in the next minute-and-a-half.
More accurately, it was one Bee - sophomore center Craig McNees - who reeled off eight unanswered points in the next minute-and-a-half.
McNees scored 14 of his team's 17 second-quarter points in a span of four minutes to give Bridgman a 25-14 lead with two minutes left in the half.
Baskets by Washington and senior guard Gordon Bryant helped cut the lead to 27-21 at the half. They scored all 13 of Buchanan points in the second quarter.
McBeth had cause for concern going in to the locker room.
first half)," he said.
Not that it was a surprise to McBeth that Bridgman would give his team problems. After all, that night was the school's "winterfest," and the team was coming off a win against Coloma - a team Buchanan had just lost to.
McBeth's team was up to the test, coming out with more energy in the second half, and trying harder to collectively assert itself defensively. He said it was his team's goal to maintain that kind of intensity for the half.
While the Bucks started to attack more defensively, Miller said his team stopped attacking Buchanan's defense. The combination was lethal to Bridgman, and by the end of the third quarter, the game was tied 35-35.
The Bees committed nine turnovers in the third quarter alone. On 14 possessions, they shot the ball only six times, leading Miller to stretch to find something positive about the quarter.
The Bucks carried their momentum into the fourth quarter, led by Robinson's 11 points in the stanza. His stutter-step penetration into Bridgman's zone put Buchanan up 47-40 with four minutes left in the game.
The Bees refused to give up, and managed to tie the game 49-49 when guard Matthew Haughey converted a basket and a free-throw with just under a minute left in the game.
Bryant hit two free-throws with 12 seconds left, when he was fouled after a Bridgman turnover.
The final margin came on a Brian Shannon free throw with three seconds left. He was at the line for being fouled after recovering a Bridgman turnover.
Even then, Bridgman had one last chance. Shannon hit his first free throw, but missed the second. The Bees got the rebound, but perhaps fittingly, committed a turnover with one second left.