By By ERIKA PICKLES / NIles Daily Star
WATERVLIET - Things got pretty nerve racking in the final quarter of the Class C Regional final game Friday night at Watervliet High School.
Buchanan and Kalamazoo Christian met for the first time since last year and the outcome was the same with the Bucks picking up the 55-48 championship win to advance them to Quarterfinals.
Kalamazoo Christian didn't exactly give Buchanan an easy win and made them work for everything on both ends of the court.
Brian Shannon hit a three pointer to start the game 30 seconds into play. Almost a minute later Nick Mejeur scored the first basket for the Comets followed by baskets from Eric Jacobsma and another from Mejuer to put Kalamazoo Christian up 6-3.
The Comets were able to keep the lead throughout the rest of the first and went up by as many as five points.
D'Vaughn Frazier, Shannon, Tony Robinson and Jordan Lee all scored two points, but the Bucks were still down 16-11 going into the second. That was the last lead the Comets would see for the night.
Robinson opened up the second quarter with a basket and Gordon Bryant and Jimmy Washington both followed with two of their own.
A tip from Washington on a missd basket was enough to put the Bucks up 19-16 at the five minute mark.
Two points from Mejeur brought the Comets back within one, but Bryant added another two to Buchanan's score to give them a 21-18 lead.
The score stayed within one point with both teams scoring baskets, but four points from Bryant and a three from PJ Pollack gave the Bucks a 30-22 lead going into the second half. Kalamazoo Christian was only able to pull off six points in the secon quarter, while the Bucks scored 19.
Shannon and Washington both made a basket to start the third. Steve Herder hit his first three of the night for the Comets to bring the score to 34-25.
Shannon went 1-for-2 on the line and Frazier added two to the Bucks' score, but six points in a row from the Comets brought them back within six, 37-31.
Robinson was the last Buck to score in the third and Jacobsma and Jonathan Triemstra added three points on free throws to bring the score to 39-34 entering the final quarter.
The fourth quarter seemed overall in favor of Buchanan. Two points each from Robinson and Bryant gave the Bucks their biggest lead of the night 43-34 three minutes into the quarter.
Mejeur picked up the first bucket for the Comets in the fourth, but Shannon added two and went to the line three times due to fouls on Kalamazoo Christian's side. Shannon went 2-for-5 on the line to give the Bucks what they thought was a comfortable 47-36 lead.
Brad Deyoung nailed a three- pointer for the Comets and Bryant went 2-for-2 on the line for Buchanan.
Back-to-back three's from Mejeur, one being a four point play put Kalamazoo Christian right back in the ball game, coming within three points of the Bucks, 49-46, with 1:16 to go.
Bryant was again able to go 2-for-2 on the line and Shannon went 1-for-2 to put Buchanan back up 52-46 with 40 seconds left.
Herder went 2-for-2 on the line for the Comets with 17 seconds left, but a foul from Triemstra put Bryant on the line and fouled him out of the game. Bryant and Pollack were the last two to score for Buchanan, both going 1-for-2 on the line to give the Bucks their 55-48 regional win.
Buchanan went 10-for-16 on the line in the fourth quarter and only made two baskets.
Robinson had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bucks.
Bryant led the Bucks with 15 points, five rebounds and Shannon had 13 points, three rebounds and three steals.
Pollack ended with four points, one rebound and one steal for Buchanan.
Kyles picked up two points and four rebounds for the Bucks.
Buchanan, now 23-2 will travel to Battle Creek Kellogg Arena on Tuesday to face Albion. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals set on the campus of Michigan State University.
Mejeur was the only player to score in double digits for the Comets with 17 points. Deyoung was the next highest with seven.
Kalamazoo Christian ends its season 20-5.
BUCHANAN 55
KALAMAZOO CHRISTIAN 48
BUCHANAN (55) Jeff Kyles 1 0-0 2, D'Vaughn Frazier 2 0-0 4, Brian Shannon 3 1 4-8 13, Kyle Tracey 0 0-0 0, Jordan Lee 1 0-0 2, Tony Robinson 5 1-3 11, Nate Brewer 0 0-0 0, PJ Pollack 1 1-2 4, Taylor Johnson 0 0-0 0, Gordon Bryant 4 5-6 15, Jared Rusher 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Washington 2 0-0 4, Marquis Hall 0 0-0 0, Jason Kuntz 0 0-0 0, Eric Cole 0 0-0 0.
KALAMAZOO CHRISTIAN (48) Kyle Mastenbrook 0 0-0 0, Charlie Alphenaar 0 0-0 0, Steve Herder 0 1 2-2 3, Brad Walvort 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Triemstra 2 2-3 6, Nick Mejeur 4 2 3-4 17, Drew Virkus 0 0-0 0, Jason Schefferrs 1 1-2 3, Brad Deyoung 2 1 0-0 7, Danny Mejeur 0 0-0 0, Ryan VanDenberg 0 0-0 0, Eric Jacobsma 0 0-0 0, Josh Veenstra 0 0-0 0, Bryan Dekoekkoek 1 0-0 2.
BUCHANAN 11 19 9 14
KALAMAZOO CHRISTIAN 16 6 12 14