The terrific trio of seniors Darius Wilson and Tremail Butcher, along with sophomore Dontel Highsmith, scored practically all of the first quarter 21 points and held the Redskins to six as the Chieftains shot, dunked and blocked their opponent into submission.

“We were nervous and shell shocked in the first quarter, but it was a great learning experience and take away the first quarter we are right there at the end,” stated Paw Paw coach Scott Eubank.

Wilson had a pair of his three crowd-pleasing alley oop dunks and a couple of his total five blocked shots in the first four minutes to get the Chieftain faithful excited in the early going.

“Those three guys are starting to click and jell together. Then the other guys start to get rolling, but I have been coaching here for nine years altogether and this student section supports and yells the best so far,” explained Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt. “Our team is fun to watch with up tempo basketball.”

Butcher, although only 6-1, grabbed five rebounds in the second stanza alone and led Dowagiac in scoring with 10 points and six caroms as it led 38-23 at halftime.

Junior reserve guard Matt Cerven scored seven points with five coming at the free throw line to lead Paw Paw (6-4, 4-4).

“Our reserves played well and gave us some great energy as we will definitely get better after a game like this,” said Eubank. “Watching film will correct some mistakes by us being more physical.”

Sophomore DeMarcus Leak (6-4) scored his first points on a pair of consecutive lay-ups in the first two minutes of the third quarter as the Redskins cut the lead to 40-32 on his second successful goal before Highsmith and Wilson increased the margin with their outside and inside prowess.

The third quarter ended with the Chieftains (5-3, 5-2)  holding a 56-42 advantage.

“I preach all the time that our best offense is defense and this was our best defensive effort all year on which it created offensive opportunities for us,” noted Hunt. “We need to be more consistent from the free throw line, because we struggled tonight.”

Defense was not an issue in the final stanza as a total 42 points were scored with the hosts scoring four more points than its opponent in the back and forth final eight minutes.

Dowagiac could have increased the lead but made only 11-of-26 free throws with senior Jason Turner and sophomore D.J. Hunt each swishing both of their attempts.

Highsmith scored six points in each of the final two periods to lead all scorers with 19 points, with Wilson and Butcher collecting 16 and 14 points respectively.

Junior Luke Vavra also scored a 12 points in the second half and finished with 18 points for Paw Paw, with Cerven serving up a baker’s dozen (13) in the defeat.

“Paw Paw didn’t quit and grinded it out the whole game, so give them a lot of credit,” concluded Hunt. “With how young (two seniors) they are they should be one of the better teams in the Wolverine next year.”

PAW PAW 61
Luke Vavra 6 4-5 18; Matt Cerven 3 6-7 13; Nathan Klingel 2 2-2 7; Francisco Posada 2 2-3 6; DeMarcus Leak 3 0-0 6; Michael Brown 2 0-0 4; Nolan Snyder 1 1-2 3; Ben Stieber 1 0-0 3; Andrew Buskirk 0 1-7 1. TOTALS: 20   16-26 61

DOWAGIAC 79
Dontel Highsmith 7 2-7 19;  Darius Wilson 7 2-4 16; Tremail Butcher 6 1-4 14; Troy Butcher 3 2-4 9; Jason Turner 2 2-2 8; Brendon Murray 2 0-0 4; Christopher Craft 1 0-1 3; Eric Charles 1 0-0 2; D.J. Hunt 0 2-2 2; Tyler Clark 1 0-0 2; Brian Delong 0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 30 11-26  79

Paw Paw 6 17 19 19 61
Dowagiac 21 17 18 23 79
3-point baskets: Paw Paw 5 (Vavra 2, Cerven, Klingel, Stieber), Dowagiac 8 (Highsmith 3, Turner 2, Tremail Butcher, Troy Butcher, Craft). Total fouls: Paw Paw 22, Dowagiac 23. Fouled out: Brown (PP), Buskirk (PP), Charles (D). Varsity records: Paw Paw 6-4, 4-4 Wolverine; Dowagiac 5-3, 5-2 Wolverine