By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC - To say the Coloma Comets are on a roll might be an understatement.
The streaking Comets (15-7) reached the Class B District Basketball Tournament finals for the second time in three years with a overpowering 80-56 victory over Berrien Springs Thursday night.
Berrien Springs and Coloma had split a pair of regular season Lakeland Conference games with the Shamrocks winning the last meeting.
But it was evident early on that the Comets were not about to let the Shamrocks have the final say.
Despite shooting 62.5 percent in the first half, Berrien Springs found itself trailing the Comets, 42-32 at halftime.
Coloma shot 50 percent from the field in the opening half and improved on that in the final 16 minutes of play.
Coloma was 17-of-28 in the second half, led by the play of Terrell Evans, who finished with a game-high 21 points.
The Comets were 15-of-30 in the opening 16 minutes sparked by the play of guard Tyler Lavanway, who netted 17 points on five three-pointers.
Both teams played extremely well in the first quarter, however, it was the Comets who came away with a 17-14 advantage.
Coloma, much in the way it did on Tuesday night against Dowagiac, began pulling away in the second quarter.
The Comets built a 10-point advantage with 4:47 remaining in the first half on a basket by Jermain Murphy.
Berrien Springs cut the lead down to single digits on several occasions, but Coloma continued to pump it back up to 10 points and went into halftime with that advantage.
It was all Coloma in the second half as the Comets outscored the Shamrocks 16-14 in the third quarter and then 22-10 in the final stanza.
The Comets got 12 points each from Murphy and Milo Jeffries, who handed out 10 assists.
Berrien Springs was led by James Lockett's 18 points.
Coloma plays St. Joseph in the title game Saturday at 7 p.m.
BERRIEN SPRINGS 56
Shelby Wood 2 2-3 6, Dowin Coffy 4 0-2 8, Jeremy Cummings 0 0-0 0, Matt Demler 5 1-2 11, Trey Lockett 8 1-2 18, Vince Ruhumuliza 5 0-0 10, Ryan Little 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Chansa 0 0-0 0, Matt Jasper 1 0-0 2, Ben Collard 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Eddie 0 1-3 1, Anya Uzoh 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 5-12 56
COLOMA 80
Jermain Murphy 5 2-4 12, Sebastian Lewis 2 1-2 6, Jake Boven 2 0-0 4, Milo Jeffries 4 3-3 12, Tyler LaVanway 6 0-0 17, Terrell Evans 9 1-2 21, Chad Adams 1 0-0 2, Kasey Weber 2 0-0 4, Anthony Musgrove 0 0-0 0, Erving Warren 0 0-0 , Chris Gopp 0 0-0 0, DeAnthony Head 1 0-0 2, MacKenzie McCoy 0 0-0 0, Lee Haase 0 0-0 0. Totals: 32 7-11 80
Berrien Springs 14 32 46 56
Coloma 17 42 58 80
Three-point field goals: Berrien 1 (Lockett), Coloma 9 (LaVanway 5, Evans 2, Jeffries, Lewis). Total fouls: Berrien 14, Coloma 13. Varsity records: Berrien Springs 13-8, Coloma 15-7