By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
HARTFORD – A sluggish first half of basketball didn't keep the Buchanan Bucks from advancing to Friday night's championship game of the 2006 Varsity Basketball Holiday Tournament at Hartford High School.
The Bucks, who improved to 2-3, erased a six-point half time deficit to take a 65-56 win over Watervliet Grace Christian in the opening game of the tournament Thursday evening.
Grace Christian let a golden opportunity to break the game open in the first half slip through their hands as they could only mesh 7-of-14 charity tosses, allowing Buchanan to keep the game from getting out of hand.
The Patriots finished the night hitting 14-of-30 at the free throw line.
"Our defensive pressure in the second half created a lot of turnovers," Buchanan coach Reid McBeth said following the win. "They never really got to run their offense to much in the second half. I think that was key because in the first half they were able to get into their offense. We weren't doing a very good job against some of the screens. We're still working and we have to get better."
In the game, Grace Christian had 27 turnovers. The Bucks pressure defense forced 17 in the second half. Buchanan finished the game with 20 miscues, turning the ball over only eight times in the second half.
Trailing 30-24 at the break and 47-42 heading into the final quarter Buchanan poured in 23 points in the final eight minutes to take the win.
Freshman Clinton Orr scored all 13 of his points in the second half to spark the Bucks offense to pull off the win.
"Marquis (Hall) had a lot of shots in the first half and we only had one person in rebounding possession. Clinton did a good job in the second half, he got a lot of big rebounds as did Aaron White," McBeth said. Hall, who was battling being sick according to coach McBeth, dumped in a team high 18 points and also led the team with 17 rebounds.
Each team finished the night with 48 rebounds, but it was Buchanan's 19-8 advantage on the boards in the fourth quarter leading the Bucks to the 23-11 run and victory.
"In the second half we did a whole lot better job rebounding. When you rebound it makes your defense look a whole heck of a lot better also," McBeth added.
Derek Anglero connected for 12 points for Buchanan with seven coming in the fourth quarter. Lincoln Fox scored a game high 25 points for the Patriots with Nathan Price adding 16 and Gemel Phillips contributing 10 in the loss.
Buchanan … 65
Watervliet Grace Christian … 56
BUCHANAN (65) – Derek Anglero 4 3-4 12, Avery Brown 3 0-1 8, Jon Young 1 0-0 3, Clinton Orr 5 3-4 13, Aaron White 1 0-0 2, Matt Sebasty 0 0-0 0, Brad Burns 1 1-4 3, Marquis Hall 8 2-6 18, Evan Cauffman 2 0-0 4, Buddy Williams 1 0-0 2, Totals 26 9-19 65.
WATERVLIET GRACE CHRISTIAN (56) -Josh Ulrich 0 0-0 0, Alex Brown 0 0-0 0, Nathan Price 6 3-5 16, Lincoln Fox 7 10-19 25, Aaron Haack 0 0-0 0, Taylor Wilkinson 0 0-0 0, Shawn Swisher 1 1-4 3, Zach Eddy 1 1-4 3, Gemel Phillips 5 0-2 10, Totals 20 14-30 56.
Buchanan 11 24 42 65
Grace Christian 13 30 47 56
Total Fouls (fouled out) – 3-point shooting – Buchanan 4 (Avery Brown 2, Anglero, Young), Watervliet Grace 2 (Price, Fox); Total fouls (fouled out) – Buchanan 19, Grace Christian 14 ( Zach Eddy); Rebounds – Buchanan 48 (Hall 17), Watervliet Grace 48 (Eddy 12)