By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN - A sold out gym, tons of screaming, fired up fans and some mighty pumped up players was the scene at Buchanan High School Friday night.
The Bucks were able to pull of a 72-64 win against Coloma to keep them in the run for first place along with Bridgman in the Lakeland Conference.
Buchanan proved that rebounds can win ball games. The Bucks had some strong defensive rebounds, but it was their 26-of-40 offensive rebounds that won the game.
The Bucks were able to take the lead and hold on to it the entire game. Coloma was only able to tie it up early in the first at five. Buchanan had the 20-11 lead at the end of the first.
Brian Shannon had four three-pointers for the Bucks. He knocked in his first one early in the second quarter. He was able to grab his own rebound from a missed free throw and bomb the three. He had his second one 3:42 into quarter.
D'Vaughn Frazier, Gordon Bryant and Tony Robinson all added points to the Bucks' score in the second. Buchanan had a 40-31 lead going into intermission.
Coloma wasn't ready to give up and made a strong effort to come back in the second half.
Jermain Murphy and Milo Jefferies both exploded in the half for the Comets grabbing some rebounds and pounding in points.
After about a 10 minute delay in the third quarter due to score board problems, Buchanan was able to score eight points early in the quarter to put them ahead by more than 10 points.
Some strong offensive efforts from Sebastian Lewis and Jake Boven of Coloma shortened the gap, but still not enough to give them a lead. Buchanan had a 56-45 lead going into the final quarter.
Coloma again made a big effort to come back in the fourth, coming within six points of Buchanan.
The Bucks put a quick stop to the effort and were able to end the game with a 72-64 victory.
Buchanan was missing one of their key players, Jordan Lee, due to an issue with his grades.
The Bucks, now 7-1 in the conference, host Brandywine next tuesday for another Lakeland Conference match-up.
BUCHANAN 72
Jeff Kyles 0 0-0 0, D-Vaughn Frazier 7 1 2-2 19, Brian Shannon 1 4 4-2 16, Kyle Tracey 0 0-0 0, Tony Robinson 5 2-0 10, Nate Brewer 0 0-0 0, PJ Pollack 0 2-1 1, Taylor Johnson 0 0-0 0, Gordon Bryant 6 2-2 14, Jared Rusher 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Washington 6 1-0 12,
COLOMA 64
Tyler LaVanway 0 5-3 3, Jermain Murphy 7 2-0 14, Anthoney Musgrove 0 0-0 0, Dwan McKinney 3 0-0 6, Terrel Evans 0 0-0 0, Chad Adams 0 0-0 0, Milo Jefferies 3 2 4-2 14, Sebastian Lewis 4 2 3-1 15, DeAnthoney Head 0 0-0 0, Erving Warren 0 0-0 0, Kasey Weber 0 0-0 0, Jake Boven 5 3-2 12
Buchanan 20 40 56 72
Coloma 11 31 45 64