By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac varsity basketball team was seeing red on Valentine's Day with Vicksburg in town.
The Chieftains had revenge on their minds when they opened up their Wolverine Conference clash with the Bulldogs.
Vicksburg upset the Chieftains back in January on a last second 3-point shot.
On Wednesday night, Dowagiac left no doubt that the first meeting was a fluke.
The Chieftains raced out to a commanding 28-10 lead on its way to a 77-61 victory.
The win sets up Friday night's showdown with first place Gull Lake. Dowagiac and the Blue Devils both have two losses on the season. Gull Lake has two more wins than Dowagiac, which gives them sole possession of first place heading into the contest.
The Chieftains poured in 29 first quarter points, mainly from outside the 3-point line.
Dowagiac's Oscar Wilson remains red-hot from 3-point range. In the opening quarter, Wilson connected on two of his four triples, while Amos Clark and Andrew Cuthbert also tossed in 3-pointers.
Dowagiac doubled up Vickburg by halftime, leading 44-22 heading into the locker room.
The Chieftains got a little sloppy in the third quarter and struggled against the Bulldogs' man-to-man defense.
"I don't know why we struggled against their man because we have so many things we can run against it," Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren said. "We got off to the best start we have had this year. We struggled a little bit in the third quarter, but we got things back under control in the fourth."
Vicksburg got all over Dowagiac in the third quarter and cut the lead to nine points before the Chieftains got their feet back under them and went inside to senior center Chris Primley.
"We wanted to get the ball inside to Chris and we did a good job of that," Blomgren said.
The Bulldogs outscored the Chieftains 21-13 in the third quarter but still trailed by 13 points heading into the final frame.
Dowagiac and Vicksburg played nearly even in the final eight minutes.
Clark led all scorers with 25 points, while Primley finished with 22 points.
Clark had six assists and five rebounds to go along with his point total. Primley finished with 13 rebounds and three assists.
Wilson finished the night with 12 points, all coming on 3-pointers as Dowagiac set a new school record with 11 triples. Every starter had at least one 3-pointer.
Cuthbert and Jamie Simpson both contributed nine points. Cuthbert also had four rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Simpson ended up with three rebounds, five assists and two steals. Wilson added six assists and three steals to his totals.
The Chieftains shot an amazing 50 percent from 3-point range. Dowagiac's starters were even better from long range as they finished the night 11-of-19 (58 percent). Overall, Dowagiac shot 50 percent from the field and held a 31-21 advantage in rebounding.
Vicksburg also shot the ball well and finished the game hitting 51 percent of its shots from the floor. The Bulldogs did turn the ball over 18 times against the constant Dowagiac pressure.
Tyler Plasrok's 22 points led Vicksburg. Dan Schiedel and Jon Cannell had 12 and 10 points respectively.
"We didn't say anything about this game to the kids," Blomgren said. "We just wrote Vicksburg on the board. That was all that needed to be said."
The Chieftains will host Gull Lake on Friday night beginning at approximately 7 p.m.
VICKSBURG 61
Quincy Brown 3 0-0 6, Dan Schiedel 6 0-0 12, Qylon Palmer 0 2-2 2, Jordan Buckallew 4 0-0 9, Tyler Palsrok 10 2-6 22, Jon Cannell 3 2-2 10, Joey Briggs 0 0-0 0, Tyler Delabarre 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 6-10 61
DOWAGIAC 77
Andrew Cuthbert 3 1-1 9, Jamie Simpson 3 1-2 9, Oscar Wilson 4 0-0 12, Amos Clark 10 3-4 25, Chris Primley 10 1-2 13, Kevin Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Ronnell Grady 0 0-0 0, Glenn Hammond 0 0-0 0, Romero Reed 0 0-0 0, Chuck Mersereau 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30 6-11 77
Vicksburg 12 22 43 61
Dowagiac 29 44 57 77
3-point baskets: Buckallew (V), Cannell (V) 2, Cuthbert (D) 2, Simpson (D) 2, Wilson (D) 4, Clark (D) 2, Primley (D). Total fouls: Vicksburg 13, Dowagiac 12. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Record: Dowagiac 11-3, 10-2 Wolverine