By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN - After a shaky first half, the Buchanan varsity basketball team rolled to a 50-36 non-conference win over White Pigeon (0-1) Tuesday night.
Sophomore Marquis Hall ignited the Bucks, 1-0, in the fourth quarter as Buchanan out scored their opponent 23-9 to put the game away. Hall put an exclamation point on the win with a steal in the Chiefs' back court and hammered the ball through the rim with a thunderous dunk bringing the crowd to their feet with 1:30 to play in the game.
That two points gave the Bucks a comfortable 47-36 lead. Hall scored nine of his game high 18 points in the quarter. Hall also led the team with eight rebounds and Terrell Tucker pulled down seven boards and scored seven points.
Senior Jeff Kyles directed the offense at the point and finished with four assists and played some tough defense coming away with five steals. Brad Burns finished the night with five assists and four steals. Each player scored three points in the game.
Another sophomore stepped up for the Bucks hitting key three point baskets to keep the team in the game. Avery Brown hit three from behind the arc. His first came in the second quarter to give Buchanan a 11-9 lead midway through the second quarter. Eric Cole hit his only shot from the floor, another trey for the Bucks to give the team a 14-11 advantage. Those two baskets sparked the Bucks offense as they struggled early in the game to get points on the board shooting only 25 percent from the floor in the first half. Buchanan went in at the half with a 14-12 lead.
White Pigeon jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the first quarter but was unable to break away from the Bucks as Buchanan made up for their weary shooting by playing strong defense.
The game stayed close throughout the contest until Buchanan was able to get the ball down low to Hall in the post midway through the fourth quarter to break the 2-3 zone of the Chiefs. Buchanan continued to use their speed to force the ball up court on offense and pressured the Chiefs on defense to cause 16 White Pigeon turnovers. Buchanan finished with 20 miscues in the game.
The Bucks return to action Friday night when they host Kalamazoo Christian at 7:30 p.m.
Junior Varsity game
In junior varsity action Buchanan came away with a 41-38 victory with Aaron White canning 15 for the JV Bucks and Derek Anglero tallied 12 to help pull out the win. Bryce Erbe had 13 for White Pigeon.
The freshmen team will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the JV's to follow and the Varsity scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
White Pigeon 7 12 27 36
Buchanan 4 14 27 50
White Pigeon (36) Tyler Nichols 0-0-1-2- 1, Nick Olsen 1-0-3-5- 5, Bobby Slack 2-1-1-2- 8, Aaron Mast 0-4-1-2- 13, Cody Alexander 1-0-0-0- 2, Josh Wanger 0-0-1-2- 1, Michael Severns 0-0-2-3- 2, Ian Copenhaver 1-0-2-3- 4.
Totals 5-5-11-19- 36
Buchanan (50) Damian Bryant 1-0-1-2- 3, Jeff Kyles 0-0-3-4- 3, Avery Brown 1-3-1-2- 12, Eric Cole 0-1-1-2- 4, Brad Burns 1-0-1-2- 3, Marquis Hall 8-0-2-5- 18, Terrell Tucker 2-0-3-4- 7.
Totals 13-4-12-21-50
Total team fouls- Buchanan 15, White Pigeon 18
Fouled out- Cole, Buchanan
Technical Fouls- None
Records- Buchanan 1-0 0-0, White Pigeon 0-1 0-0
JV Score- Buchanan 41, Aaron White 15, White Pigeon 38, Bryce Erbe 13.
Pic 6359- Brad Burns fights for rebound agaist White Pigeon players
Pic 6366- Jeff Kyles passes to ball off against White Pigeon
Pic 6378- Avery Brown sets up for one of his three 3-pointers against White Pigeon.