By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
A driving lay-up along the baseline with 1:02 remaining by Mike DeRose gave Dowagiac a 43-41 victory over visiting Sturgis Tuesday night.
The win snapped a 12-game losing streak for the Chieftains, who improve to 4-14 on Senior Night.
"With the heartbreaks we've had, to come out and win a game like this is a great tribute to our kids," Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren said. "It hasn't been for lack of effort that we haven't been able to finish a game. We needed a couple of breaks to go our way, and the kids made our breaks tonight."
DeRose's lay-up capped a 19-point fourth quarter which helped rally the Chieftains from a 10-point deficit to begin the period.
A close game throughout, Sturgis opened up a 10-point bulge in the third quarter, 34-24.
Trailing by double digits to open the final eight minutes, the Chieftains picked up the intensity and pressed the Trojans full court.
Sturgis committed six turn-overs in the first three-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, which allowed Dowagiac to tie the game at 35-35 on an Amos Clark 3-pointer and then take a 37-35 lead with 4:39 to play when Andrew Cuthbert scored on a lay-up.
The Trojans reclaimed the lead (38-37) 20 seconds later on Jeff Kolzow's third three points of the contest.
A Chris Primley lay-up with 3:24 remaining on the clock gave Dowagiac a 39-38 lead.
Dowagiac then extended its lead to 41-38 on another Primley lay-up. This one coming off his missed shot.
The Trojans were able to tie the game again at 41 with 2:03 remaining when Kolzow, who led all scorers with 16 points, connected on his fourth 3-pointer of the second half.
"We got beat on the same play over and over again," Blomgren said of the Kolzow 3-pointers. "Finally we cheated a little bit defensively and Andrew was able to come up with a steal."
With the game knotted and time winding down, DeRose put up a three-pointer with 1:08 remaining that was blocked by Bo Felt.
DeRose grabbed up the lose ball and drove down the baseline, scoring over the top of Raju Armster with 62 seconds left in the contest.
Sturgis had several chances down the stretch to tie or take the lead.
Kolzow missed a jumper with 21 seconds remaining, however, Dale Norman grabbed the offensive rebound and missed the put-back.
Primley grabbed the rebound and was fouled quickly by the Trojans.
Sturgis fouled three more times, the final one coming with seven seconds left when Jamie Simpson took the inbounds pass.
Simpson missed the front end of the one-and-one, which was rebounded by Felt, who fumbled the ball as time was running short.
Sturgis finally got the ball up the court to Armster, who took a wild shot that was well off the mark as time expired.
Blomgren and the Chieftain bench exploded as the Chieftains finally picked up a win after going nearly two full months without a win.
Dowagiac led 7-6 after one period of play, but trailed 19-16 at halftime after being outscored by Sturgis in the second quarter, 13-9.
The Trojans increased their lead to 34-24 heading into the final period after outscoring the Chieftains again in the third quarter, 15-8.
Dowagiac held a 19-7 scoring advantage in the final eight minutes as it rallied for the victory.
The Chieftains (4-14) shot the ball well on the night as they hit 43 percent (16-of-37) from the field. Dowagiac was 6-of-11 from the free throw line.
Dowagiac held a 22-20 advantage on the boards and committed two less turnovers by Sturgis (15-13).
In fact, Dowagiac committed just four turnovers in the second half and none in the fourth quarter.
Sturgis had seven turnovers in the final eight minutes.
Clark led Dowagiac with nine points off the bench in 15 minutes of play. Primley finished with eight points and five rebounds. Cuthbert added seven points, while Shawn Irvin scored six points off the bench. DeRose finished with five points and six rebounds.
David Stuppy also had five points.
Felt finished with 14 points for Sturgis. Cox added five points.
Dowagiac will host Battle Creek Harper Creek on Friday night.
STURGIS 41
Dustin Cox 2 1-1 5, RajuArmster 0 1-2 1, Bo Felt 5 3-3 14, Jeff Kolzow 6 0-0 16, Dustin Whims 0 2-2 2, Bruce Westra 1 0-0 3, Tim LaBarge 0 0-0 0, Dale Norman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 7-8 41
DOWAGIAC 43
Jamere Bacon 0 0-0 0, David Stuppy 1 2-3 5, Jamie Simpson 1 0-1 3, Mike DeRose 2 0-0 5, Chris Primley 3 2-2 8, Nick File 0 0-0 0, Andrew Cuthbert 3 0-0 7, Shawn Irvin 2 2-5 6, Oscar Wilson 0 0-0 0, Amos Clark 4 0-0 9, D.J. Edgerly 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 6-11 43
Sturgis 6 19 34 41
Dowagiac 7 16 24 43
Three-point baskets: Felt (S), Kolzow (S) 4, Westra (S), Stuppy (D), Simpson (D), DeRose (D), Cuthbert (D), Clark (D). Total fouls: Sturgis 11, Dowagiac 10. Fouled out: None, Technical fouls: None. Varsity record: Dowagiac 4-14