By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BERRIEN SPRINGS – Buchanan gave Berrien Springs all they could handle Friday night in high school basketball action in the Shamrock gym. Despite the effort from the Bucks, the Shamrocks held on for a 45-40 win in Lakeland Conference play.
Matt Demler paced the Rocks with 17 points while Marquis Hall dumped in 14 and Derek Anglero chipped in with 13. It was the poor free throw shooting by the Bucks that handed the win to Berrien. The Bucks could only mesh 4-of-12 from the charity stripe while the Shamrocks made 13-of-15 tosses.
Buchanan limited their turnovers to nine in the game with Berrien coughing up the ball 18 times in the game.
"Our team's effort was there tonight," Bucks head coach Reid McBeth said after the loss. "We just didn't get the shots to fall. Hopefully we can take something from these close games and build on them if not in the next game than the next week or even in March."
Buchanan took a five point lead early in the fourth quarter 35-30 before Demler's back to back threes got the Rocks back into the game 37-36 with 3:49 to play.
Buchanan's junior varsity team defeated Berrien 55-44 led by Aaron White's 24 points. Tony Antangana scored 14 for the Shamrocks. Berrien's freshmen team recorded a 44-32 win over the Bucks. Daniel Blackwell scored 11 for Buchanan and Sevn Idave had 15 for Berrien.
Buchanan 11 21 33 40
Berrien Springs 12 22 30 45