By By JEFF FISHER / Vigilant/Argus
EDWARDSBURG - The upset minded Edwardsburg Eddies gave visiting Bridgman everything it could handle Friday night.
A last second three-point shot by Doug Shuttleworth went off the rim as time expired, and the Bees picked up a 47-44 Lakeland Athletic Conference victory on the road.
The game opened with Edwardsburg winning the opening tip and the Eddies' Nick Roth making a bee line to the hoop, only to have Bridgman swatting it away.
The Eddies' David Daniels hit a quick "three", followed by a Roth basket that gave the Eddies an early 5-4 lead. But the Bees responded with Tyler Weaver scoring seven of the Bees' nine first quarter points to give them a 9-7.
Daniels scored five of the seven Eddies' points.
Edwardsburg jumped out to an 11-10 lead early in the second quarter, which was a see-saw event. Both teams exchanging leads, with neither team taking a lead of more than five points.
A Roth three-pointer tied the game up at 20-20, and the Eddies' Steve Gowen hit a trey at the buzzer to give the Eddies a 23-20 lead going into the half.
Roth, who came into this game averaging 25.2 ppg., finished the first half with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second quarter.
The Eddies outscored the Bees 16-11 in the second quarter.
Bridgman opened the third quarter with the first bucket. Once again both teams swapped leads. A Weaver "3" gave the Bees a 29-25 lead.
Shuttleworth of the Eddies countered with a bucket of his own, followed by a Tony Hayes basket to tie both teams up at 30 to begin the fourth.
Two free throws by the Eddies' Matt Horvath gave the Eddies an early two-point lead to begin the fourth.
Weaver of the Bees' drained a "three", and Eddies' Gowen hit a jumper to tie the game up at 35-35 with 4:21 to play.
Roth broke a 38-38 tie with a bucket, but the Bees forced the Eddies into a turnover that Weaver capitalized on, and gave the Bees a four-point lead. The Eddies narrowed the lead down to 46-44 with 9.7 seconds to go. After an Eddies' foul, which left Edwardsburg three-points down, Shuttleworth launched a three-point shot that would have tied the game up, but rattled off the rim as time expired.
The Bees' Weaver scored 13 points in the quarter, while Roth of the Eddies was held to only three.
Weaver led all scorers with 25 points and Dan Kunde added 10 points for Bridgman.
Roth led the Eddies with 17 points, and Steve Gowen added seven.
"Another great high school attraction atmosphere," said Eddies coach Jeff Kozinski. "We played with a lot of heart and pride, the kids never gave up,". "Give credit to coach Miller, he always gets his players ready to play day in and day out."
The Eddies fall to 5-9 overall and 2-6 in conference play.
The Eddies travelled to River Valley on Tuesday (see related story Page 16) and return home again on Friday, Feb. 11 to host Coloma.
BRIDGMAN 47
Todd Hendricks 0 0-0 0, Matt Haughey 0 1-2 1, Adrian Nunez 0 0-0 0, Dan Kunde 4 2-2 10, Shawn Smith 0 0-0 0, Dan Ponegalek 1 2-7 4, Tyler Weaver 9 4-7 25, Jeremy Padgett 0 0-0 0, Jason Delbosque 0 0-0 0, Nevin Schaller 0 0-0 0, Nate Lyman 0 0-0 0, Craig McNees 3 1-2 7. Totals: 17 10-20 47.
EDWARDSBURG 44
Steve Gowen 3 0-0 7, David Daniels 2 0-0 5, Branden Muszynski 0 0-0 0, Pat Huggett 0 0-0 0, Robbie Sevison 0 0-0 0, Tony Hayes 2 0-3 4, Doug Shuttleworth 2 1-2 5, Nick Roth 3 10-13 17, Matt Horvath 1 4-4 6, Alex Antoniu 0 0-0 0, Ted Pietrzak 0 0-0 0, Rick Finley 0 0-0 0, Zac Rooney 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 15-22 44.
Bridgman 9 20 30 47
Edwardsburg 7 23 30 44
Three-point baskets: Weaver 3 (B), Gowen (E), Daniels (E), Roth (E). Total fouls: Bridgman 21, Edwardsburg 22. J.V. score: Bridgman 55, Edwardsburg 44.Varsity records: Bridgman 10-3 (8-1 LAC), Edwardsburg 5-9, (2-6 LAC).