By STEVE MORRISON
Vigilant/Argus

NILES – Jake Harroff’s 32 sizzling points gave the Edwardsburg Eddies the lift they needed to outdistance the Brandywine Bobcats 72-55 Friday evening.

Teammates Nick Muir and Josh Kozinski added three 3-pointers each to complement Harroff as they scored 19 and nine points respectively.

Lance Prescott finished with a Bobcat-leading 25 points, including three treys of his own to pace the hosts.

The freshman, Kozinski started out red-hot for the Eddies canning his three treys in the first three minutes of the game. Harroff took charge in the second quarter, for the Eddies, scoring all but two of the visitors’ 15 points for that span.

The first half was a close standoff between the two conference foes. Edwardsburg surged to two 10-point leads in the first two periods. But the Bobcats clawed back to within four points, trailing at intermission 34-30 after Prescott sank a deuce just before the buzzer.

Beginning the third stanza, Kyle Dale’s 2-pointer preceded Nick Muir’s three unanswered field goals (two of them for three points) to put Edwardsburg ahead, 44-34.

Still, Edwardsburg couldn’t quite break away from the ‘Cats as Austin Searles hit a three and a two-pointer, matched by Prescott.

It was 51-43 after three quarters.

A highlight alley-oop to Harroff began the final eight minutes and led an eight-point unanswered explosion by the Eddies that left the Bobcats gasping for air, trailing 59-43.

Harroff had all eight points in that stretch for the Eddies. Muir’s steal at mid-court and drive for a layup gave Edwardsburg an 18-point cushion at 66-48.

There was no coming back from that deficit for the Bobcats.

Edwardsburg Coach Dan Gunn was relieved after the game, realizing that the Eddies had secured a winning season for the first time in several years.

“Tonight Kozinski hit a couple outside, and Muir hit some outside threes, and allowed us some penetration,” reviewed Gunn. “I really thought that Dustin Moore did a good job on the boards. He did a good job inside rebounding for us and got a couple of blocked shots,” continued Gunn.

Speaking of Harroff, Gunn was full of admiration.

“He’s been a great leader all season. This is our second year, and I think that it’s important that our point guard run the things on the floor. He makes it a lot easier for us,” Gunn acknowledged.

Edwardsburg’s junior varsity was paced by Austin Tevlin and Max Habicht, who matched each other with 15 points as the Eddies defeated the junior Bobcats 78-39.

Dyllon Yaw had eight for the ‘Cats.

The Bobcat freshmen were spear-headed by Alex Brook’s 26 tallies as they won over the Eddies.

EDWARDSBURG 72
Chad Tevlin 0 0-0 0; Jake Harroff 11 8-11 32; Dustin Moore 1 0-0 2; Josh Kozinski 3 0-2 9; Zak Eggleston 1 0-0 2; Ron Preston 0 0-0 0; Nick Muir 8 0-0 19; Marcus Albrecht 0 0-0 0; Kyle Dale 3 0-0 8. TOTALS: 27 9-13 72
BRANDYWINE 55
Jeremy Zimmerman 1 0-0 2; Dakota Udell 3 1-2 7; Mykal Toxopeus 0 0-0 0; Dustin Sater 0 0-0 0; Lance Prescott 7 8-11 25; Joseph Godfrey 3 2-2 8; Austin Searles 4 0-0 11; Wyatt Taylor 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19 11-15

Edwardsburg 20 14 17 21 72
Brandywine 15 15 13 12 55
3-point basket: Brandywine Prescott 3, Searles 3; Edwardsburg Harroff 2, Kozinski 3; Muir 3, Dale 1. Team fouls: Edwardsburg 13, Brandywine 10. Varsity records: Edwardsburg 11-7; Brandywine 5-14