By By JEFF FISHER / Vigilant/Argus
After a disappointing road loss last week to River Valley, the Edwardsburg Eddies rebounded nicely Tuesday night at home to capture a 56-49 Lakeland Conference victory over the Coloma Comets.
Early on in the first half, the Eddies (6-9, 2-8 Lakeland) looked nothing like a squad that had dropped their last two games and four out of the last five contests.
The Eddies jumped out to an early first quarter lead, but the Comets responded and grabbed an 11-7 advantage with 3:26 to go.
The Eddies' Adam Hancock drained two 3-pointers in the first quarter, but the Comets led 17-15 after the first quarter.
The score remained 17-17 until the 3:45 mark in the second quarter. The Eddies held the Comets to just six points in the second quarter to give the Eddies a 25-23 lead heading into halftime.
Edwardsburg opened the third quarter with a 4-0 run which increased the lead to 30-23, until a Hancock bucket and a technical foul called on the Comets' assistant coach made it a 37-27 Eddies lead.
The Eddies outscored Coloma 12-6 in the third quarter.
The Comet's senior point guard Tyler LaVanway finally broke out of his scoring slump for the game when he canned a 3-pointer in the corner to narrow the Eddies' lead to 12, 46-34.
The Comets went to the free throw line for the first time in the second half at the 4:36 mark of the fourth quarter and would cut the Eddies lead to 10 points.
Coloma could not come any closer as the Eddies hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the game.
Hancock and Tony Hayes each scored 18 points respectively to lead the Eddies. David Daniels finished with 14.
The Eddies outshot the Comets 63 percent (18 of 35) to 45 percent (13 of 29) from the floor.
The Comets (8-9 5-6 Lakeland) were led in scoring by Jeff Gargano with 13 points, Spencer Paulsen with seven points, Kasey Weber with six points and LaVanway, who came into the contest averaging 12.3 points per game, was held to only five points - all in the fourth quarter.
The Eddies host conference foe Buchanan Friday night in the last home game of the season.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
COLOMA 49
Tyler LaVanway 1 2-5 5, Erving Warren 1 0-0 2, Jeff Gargano 5 2-3 13, Kasey Weber 3 0-0 6, Brian Saltzman 0 0-0 0, Rickey Fischer 2 1-2 5, Spencer Paulsen 3 0-0 7, Phil Murphy 0 0-0 0, Joe Richardson 1 2-3 4, Gabe Guidry 2 1-2 5. Totals: 20 8-15 49
EDWARDSBURG 56
Alex Antoniu 0 1-2 1, David Daniels 4 6-8 14, Tony Hayes 7 4-6 18, Pat Huggett 0 0-0 0, Ted Pietrzak 0 0-0 0, Adam Hancock 7 1-2 18, Zac Boellenbacher 1 0-2 2, Nate Harness 0 1-3 1, Kevin Stack 0 2-6 2. Totals: 19 15-29 56
Coloma 17 23 29 49
Edwardsburg 15 25 37 56
Three-point baskets: LaVanway (C), Gargano (C), Paulsen (C), Hancock (E) 3. Total fouls: Coloma 17, Edwardsburg 15. Varsity records: Coloma 8-9 (5-6), Edwardsburg 6-9 (2-8)