By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Brandywine's varsity basketball team took its first win of the season Tuesday evening, defeating visiting Delton-Kellogg 51-35.
The win breaks a three game losing streak for the Bobcats, 16 games total dating back to last season. The win was also a first for head coach Nate Knapp, who's team is now 1-3 overall.
Brandywine took the lead early in the first when senior D.J. Elrod opened the scoring with a basket and a free throw.
Elrod also made a successful three-point play with just over a minute left in the period, giving him six points in the first.
The Panthers were able to tie the score at five with 1:28 left to play, but that's the closest they would get to Brandywine for the rest of the game.
The Bobcats had an 8-5 lead entering the second.
The second quarter was the key to Brandywine's victory. A strong performance from players off the bench boosted the Bobcats' lead to 36-15 at halftime.
Sophomore Caleb Frazier exploded in the paint and scored 10 of his game-high 13 points in the period.
Knapp also stated that senior Ryan Hartman, who had five points off the bench, put on a good performace off the bench for the Bobcats.
A big advantage Brandywine has over most teams is that they can sub so many players off the bench.
For most of the night, coach Knapp was seen throwing different mixes together and subbing more than three players at a time.
With a big lead entering the second half, Brandywine felt confident about earning its first win.
Fortunately, Delton-Kellogg didn't take advantage of the six points the Bobcats scored in the entire period.
Frazier and Hartman were the only two players to score for Brandywine, while the Panthers only added seven additional points to their score.
In the fourth, Frazier, Elrod, Kyle Low and Matt Wieger all contributed in sealing the win for Brandywine, as they scored a combined nine points.
Elrod was the only other player to score in double digits on the night, bringing his total to 10 points.
Chris Madiel led Delton-Kellogg (0-3) with nine points.
On Tuesday, Brandywine will travel to the Niles Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament, where they will get a chance to play some tough competition, including Coloma, who is in the Lakeland Conference.
Brandywine will face Niles on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
The winner will play the winner of the Coloma/Lake Michigan Catholic game on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
The two losers will face each other on Wednesday at 6 p.m.