By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN - If Buchanan had any thoughts of winning Tuesday nights Lakeland Conference show down with Berrien Springs, those ideas were blocked by Shamrocks center Jeremy Cummings. Cummings finished the night with eight rejections against a much smaller Bucks team as Berrien came away with a 55-38 win.
Berrien Springs came out and set the tone to the game early as Cummings finished off an offensive rebound with a powerful slam dunk.
Westendorp was filling in for head coach Steve Spenner who was out of town for a family funeral.
Despite the size difference the Bucks managed to pull down two more rebounds than the Shamrocks winning the battle of the boards 39-37. Taylor Johnson pulled in eight boards and Kyles and Marquis Hall each had six.
“We blew a couple of rebounds there when he (Cummings) harassed shots and didn't get some boards that we needed to,” Westendorp said. Coffy led the team with eight boards and Cummings picked up seven caroms.
But it was the crisp play of the Berrien offense that gave them the edge in the game. Berrien committed only eight turnovers in the game. Buchanan finished the night with 16, 10 of those coming in the first half.
The Shamrocks led at the end of the first quarter 16-7.
Trailing 18-9 early in the second quarter Buchanan had a spurt and closed the gap to two, 18-16, with just over five minutes to play in the first half. Berrien finished out the quarter with a 10-6 run to take a 28-22 lead at the break.
That would be as close as the Bucks would get as the Shamrocks opened up a ten point lead early in the third quarter 32-22 and the Bucks were never able to trim the lead to less than the 10 point margin.
Matt Demler led Berrien with a game high 16 points with Kolby Wood adding 12 and Dowin Coffy contributing to the win with 11. The Shamrocks hit four treys in the game, two by Shelby Wood and one each by Ryan Little and Demler, while the Bucks were limited to just one from long distance by Jeff Kyles who finished with a team high 13. Damian Bryant chipped in with 10.
With the win Berrien improves to 4-0, 2-0 in the conference. Buchanan drops to 2-3 and 1-2 in league play.
Buchanan will resume play on Jan. 3 at Lake Michigan Catholic.
Berrien Springs 16 28 46 55
Buchanan 7 22 32 38
Berrien Springs (55)
Ryan Little 1 0-0 3, Matt Demler 4 5-6 16, Shelby Wood 2 0-0 6, Dowin Coffy 5 1-5 11, Anton Lockett 0 0-0 0, Matthew Jasper 0 1-2 1, Kolby Wood 6 0-0 12, Randolph Shaw 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Cummings 3 0-0 6, Totals 22 7-13 55.
Buchanan (38)
Damian Bryant 4 2-3 10, Jeff Kyles 4 4-5 13, Avery Brown 0 0-0 0, Eric Cole 2 0-3 4, Terrill Tucker 1 0-0 2, Brad Burns 0 0-0 0, Taylor Johnson 0 1-2 1, Marquis Hall 3 2-5 8, Dion Thompson 0 0-0 0, Jason Kuntz 0 0-0 0, Totals 14 9-18 38.
Three point shooting- Buchanan 1 (Kyles) Berrien Springs 4 (Shelby Wood 2, Demler, Little)
Team Fouls- Buchanan 12 (none) Berrien Springs 19 (none)
Technical Fouls- Buchanan (McBeth)