DOWAGIAC — There is one thing veteran Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt knows, you cannot spot a good basketball team a 14-point lead and expect to win.

That is exactly what the Chieftains did against defending Division 2 regional champion Benton Harbor Tuesday night.

While Dowagiac was able to get back into the game in the second quarter, the Tigers eventually wore down a short-handed Dowagiac squad for a 73-59 non-conference victory in the season opener for both teams.

“You can’t spot a good team 14 points (in the first quarter),” Hunt said. “We mounted a little comeback towards the end of the half, but we played in spurts tonight. We didn’t put together a full 32 minutes, and they did. Every mistake we made, they capitalized on.”

The Chieftains (0-1) entered the game without senior Trae Brookins, who was out with an injury. To make matters worse, Dowagiac lost senior D.J. Lanier to foul trouble in the first half, and he eventually fouled out with 5:51 to play in the third quarter.

For the Chieftains, that meant other players had to step up to help make up for the loss of the team’s top two scorers from last season.

Senior Dashawn Brooks was one of them, as he scored a team-high 19 points for the Chieftains. Senior Cailyn Murphy also showed his potential with 12 points,

“That was huge,” Hunt said. “If you want to talk about playing behind the eight ball, that’s where we were tonight. Even with that, Brooks stepped up and had a good shooting night. The younger guys showed some grit and were willing to get out there and get after it.”

Benton Harbor came flying out of the gates, jumping out to the 14-point advantage, which it turned into a 20-5 first-quarter lead.

With Dowagiac finally getting its feet underneath itself, the Chieftains were able to mount a second-quarter comeback, that culminated with a 9-2 run to end the first half, sparked by a Stewart Smith 3-pointer.

The Tigers would take a 33-24 lead into the locker room at the half, which almost was a six-point advantage as Brooks’ 3-point attempt in the closing seconds rimmed out.

The Chieftains would never really challenge Benton Harbor in the second half, but they continued to work hard and got some valuable playing time for its underclassmen, including Stewart and his twin brother, Michael Smith, as well as the Weller twins, Henry and Cole.

Dowagiac will hopefully be able to build off of the comeback effort, as well as have Brookins back in the lineup, along with Lanier for a full game, as it heads to Otsego Friday night to take on the defending Wolverine Conference champions, who lost to Benton Harbor in last year’s regional semifinal.

“They’re the defending Wolverine champion,” Hunt said. “We’ve got a couple of days to work on and tweak some things. I think we’ll have a better showing on Friday.”

Benton Harbor was led by Carlos Johnson, who will play at Butler University next year. Johnson had a game-high 29 points, while Quindarius Davis added 18 points.

Benton Harbor will face Detroit Denby at Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills in the I-96 Holiday Classic on Saturday.