By By JEFF FISHER / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS - In a game that came down to the last minute, the Cassopolis Rangers knocked off arch-rival Edwardsburg Tuesday night, 62-56.
The victory gave Cassopolis a 2-1 season edge on the Eddies.
The Rangers made the first basket of the game on a Dan Stanage jumper. However, Doug Shuttleworth hit back-to-back "threes" that gave the Eddies an early lead.
The Eddies opened up an 11-8 lead, before another Shuttleworth "three" extended the Eddies' lead to 14-8.
The Rangers narrowed the Edwardsburg lead, but the Rangers trailed after one quarter 14-18.
Stanage had seven first quarter points, while Shuttleworth had nine points. All nine were on three-pointers. The Ranger defense held the Eddies' leading scorer Nick Roth to only two points in the first.
The Eddies began the second quarter by hitting the first two baskets to jump out to a 22-16 lead. The Rangers began to claw back into the game. Cass' Reynard MacNeal chipped in five points, and Stanage had four points to bring the Rangers to within six points with 59 seconds to go in the half. Shuttleworth once again hit a key basket to put the Eddies up 33-25 at halftime.
The Eddies outscored the Rangers 15-11 in the second quarter. Shuttleworth finished the half with 15 points, while Stanage of Cass had 11 points.
Cassopolis opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run to narrow the Eddies lead to 32-33. Cass' Ashton Danzy hit a jumper to tie the game, followed by another basket to give the Rangers a 40-38 lead.
Roth, who had 11 third quarter points, single handedly brought the Eddies back by nailing a key "three" to give the lead back to the Eddies 49-48.
The Rangers later tied the game up with a free throw. Both teams were tied at 49-49 going into the fourth quarter.
An early 4-0 run by the Eddies to begin the fourth quarter gave them a 53-49 lead, but the Rangers came back to narrow the deficit to 51-53 with 4:50 to go.
Cass' Danzy responded with a "three" to give the Rangers the lead back 55-53. A key block by Cass' Will Loux gave the ball back to Cass with the lead 59-55.
The Rangers hit their free throws at the end to seal the victory.
Cass outscored the Eddies 13-7 in the quarter.
The Rangers were led in scoring by Stanage with 16 points, Danzy with 15 and Loux with 10.
Shuttleworth led the Eddies with 19 points, Roth had 18, and David Daniels with eight points.
The Rangers improve to 9-9 overall and 6-7 in the Lakeland Conference, while the Eddies fall to 6-13 and 3-10 in league play.
Cass will now host league leader Buchanan Friday night in the last home game of the season, while the Eddies travel to Berrien Springs.