BUCHANAN — Playing with intensity for four quarters will win you basketball games. Let up just one quarter and it’s going to cost you.

For the Buchanan boys’ varsity basketball team it was a poor second quarter of execution that gave visiting Edwardsburg a 21-12 first half lead and allowed them to go on to keep their Lakeland Conference record spotless with a 53-47 win Friday evening in the first of a varsity basketball doubleheader.

In the second game of the night in girls’ varsity basketball action it was Edwardsburg crushing the Lady Bucks 47-23.

Edwardsburg…53
Buchanan…47

Buchanan played from behind the entire game and trailed by as many as 12 points early in the third quarter. The Bucks made a strong comeback in the third to cut the lead to just four points heading into the final eight minutes 34-30.

“They (Buchanan) turned up the defense and the intensity quite a bit in the third quarter,” Eddies coach Dan Gunn said. “They always do that. Coach McBeth has them ready to go and they play very aggressive.”

Edwardsburg once again made a little spurt converting on a couple of turnovers by the Bucks and were able to push the lead back up to seven points midway through the final quarter.

The Bucks continued to apply full-court pressure and quickly forced several Edwardsburg turnovers and managed to cut the lead to two, 47-49, but were unable to capitalize on knotting the game at 49 in the final 50 seconds of the game.

“Until that second half we didn’t want to take the ball into the basket at all,” Buchanan coach Reid McBeth said of the sluggish first half. “I need to do a better job of getting our team ready to play. That was a big game and I thought we would have stepped up ready to play.”

The Eddies were led on the floor by Marcus Albrecht and Kyle Dale who each finished with game-high 13 points. Josh Kozinski added another 12 for the Eddies.

Jalen Brown finished the game with 12 and Ryan Catalano, who was a key player in bringing the Bucks back into the game scored 11.

Edwardsburg…47
Buchanan…23

The Lady Bucks were able to hang with the Eddies for about a quarter and a half before three consecutive turnovers converted into six easy points for Edwardsburg, which turned a 7-5 lead by the Eddies at the end of the first quarter to a 22-10 intermission advantage.

From there it was all Edwardsburg as Buchanan struggled to get the ball to the hoop.

Rachel Vite scored a game-high 20 points for Edwardsburg with Sarah D”Amico dropping in 11 for the winning Eddies, while Emily Kozinski chipped in with eight.

For Buchanan Chelsea Adolph topped the Bucks scoring with eight.

BUCHANAN 47
Dylan Arnold 2 0-0 5, Savon Brown 2 3-4 7, Andrew Hearington 1 0-1 2, Ryan Catalano 5 0-0 11, Justin Henderson 1 0-0 3, Jalen Brown 5 2-2 12, Brandon Jackson 2 0-0 4, Izaih Dorsey 1 1-3 3. Totals 19 6-10 47

EDWARDSBURG 53
Chad Tevlin 2 1-4 6, Matt North 0 0-0 0, Ethan Zimmerman 1 0-2 2,Dominic Razzano 1 1-2 3, Josh Kozinski 4 3-4 12, Austin Meadows 0 0-0 0, Marcus Albrecht 4 5-7 13, Max Habicht 0 0-0 0, Kyle Stack 2 0-0 4, Kyle Dale 6 1-4 13. Totals 20 11-23 53.

Buchanan 7 12 30 47
Edwardsburg 8 21 34 53
3-point baskets: Buchanan 3 (Arnold, Catalano, Henderson) Edwardsburg 2 (Tevlin, Kozinski) Team fouls: Buchanan 20 (S. Brown) Edwardsburg 16. Fouled out: S. Brown (B). Varsity records: Buchanan 8-3, 4-2 Lakeland; Edwardsburg 7-3, 5-0 Lakeland. Junior varsity score: Buchanan 39 (Kevin Dey 12) Edwardsburg 45 (Austin Tevlin 15).

Girls varsity
BUCHANAN 23
Ashlyn Pastryk 2 0-1 4, Pachia Benson 1 0-0 2, Chelsea Adolph 3 1-4 8, Erin Glavin 1 0-4 3, Courtney Adolph 1 0-0 2, Dalis Benson 2 0-0 4, Ashley Simpson 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 1-7 23.
EDWARDSBURG 47
Rachel Vite 9 2-2 20, Jill Blough 0 0-0 0, Emily Kozinski 3 2-4 8, Hannah Hack 0 0-0 0, Sarah D’Amico 3 3-4 11, Ashley Streb 1 0-1 2, Branda Fleischauer 1 0-5 2, Mariah Murphy 1 1-5 3, Brooke Portwood 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 9-27 47.

Buchanan 5 10 16 23
Edwardsburg 7 22 41 47
3-point baskets: Buchanan 2 (Chelsea Adolph, Glavin) Edwardsburg 2 (D’Amico) Team fouls: Buchanan 2, Edwardsburg 15. Fouled out: Pastryk (B). Technical Fouls: Buchanan Varsity records: Buchanan 3-7, 2-5 Lakeland; Edwardsburg 8-3, 6-1 Lakeland. Junior varsity score: Buchanan 32 (Madison Prillwitz 11) Edwardsburg 37 (Teryn Williams 17).