By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
WATERVLIET – Defense.
One word that pretty much sum's up Wednesday nights 59-32 Class C district loss to Bridgman by Buchanan at Watervliet High School.
After taking an early 4-2 lead to start the game, the Bucks quickly saw that lead vanish and turn into a 9-4 Bridgman advantage after a 7-0 Bees run. From that point, there was no looking back by Bridgman as it held the five point margin to take a 13-8 lead heading into the second quarter.
"We were playing decent defense and they were playing stinking good defense," Buchanan coach Reid McBeth said following the loss. "That's the way the Lakeland Conference is a lot of times, their defensive battles. It came down to how many second and third chances they got and how few we got."
The Bees extended their lead to eight with 5:04 to play in the first half. The Bucks continued to struggled getting the ball to fall and couldn't keep pace as the Bees' lead grew to 16 by the half.
Nearly half of Bridgman's first half points came from the free throw line as the Bees sank 14-of-19. Combine that with an 19-8 rebounding edge and the Bees were in complete control of the game by the end of the first half, leading 30-14.
The second half belonged to Bridgman as well as it continued to outscore the Bucks.
The big advantage for Bridgman came from its ability to control the boards. Bridgman finished the night out-rebounding the Bucks 35-16 and with their tough defensive pressure forced Buchanan into 19 turnovers.
"We talked more about rebounding then anything these last four days and we didn't do a good job of it tonight," McBeth said. "You have to give Bridgman credit. People want to talk about how well they can shoot, but people don't understand how well that team rebounds. They crash the offensive boards and don't give you second chances. It came down to the way they rebounded at both ends."
Derek Anglero had a team high eight points for Buchanan. Clinton Orr finished the night with seven.
Buchanan's inside threat, Marquis Hall, was held scoreless from the field and managed only two points from the charity stripe. Also Avery Brown who lately has had a hot had from 3-point land was limited to just one basket for three points, Brown was forced to the bench late in the first quarter after picking up his third foul of the game.
The Bees were led by Seth Coffing's 18 points and Craig McNees helped the cause scoring 12.
Buchanan finishes their season with a 10-11 record while Bridgman advances to Friday nights district final at 20-2 where they will face River Valley, a 66-60 winner over Brandywine.
BRIDGMAN … 59
BUCHANAN … 32
At Watervliet
BUCHANAN (32) – Derek Anglero 3 1-2 8, Richie Reed 0 0-0 0, Avery Brown 1 0-0 3, Jon Young 0 0-1 0, Clinton Orr 3 1-2 7, Spencer Anglero 1 0-0 2, Chris Woofter 2 0-0 5, Brad Burns 1 3-4 5, Daniel Blackwell 0 0-0 0, Marquis Hall 0 2-4 2, Benny Jones 0 0-0 0, Patrick Swem 0 0-0 0, Jeff Jerue 0 0-0 0, Evan Cauffman 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 11 7-13 32.
BRIDGMAN (59) – Todd Hendricks 0 2-2 2, Casey Berli 0 0-0 0, Zach Welsher 0 3-4 3, Dan Ponegalek 1 5-7 7, Jon Malm 0 3-4 3, Seth Coffing 4 8-10 18, Nick Sweet 2 2-2 7, Craig McNees 6 0-1 12, Zac Nemitz 1 0-0 3, Andrew Ott 1 0-0 2, Pat Kading 0 0-2 0, Vince Giancana 0 0-0 0, Eric Clark 0 1-2 1, Dan Mutz 0 0-0 0, Zach Copeland 0 1-2 1; TOTALS 15 25-36 39.
Buchanan 8 14 22 32
Bridgman 13 30 46 59
3-point field goals: Buchanan 3 (Derek Anglero, Brown, Woofter), Bridgman 4 (Coffing 2, Sweet, Nemitz); Total fouls (fouled out): Buchanan 25 (none), Bridgman 13 (none).