By By MICHAEL BASHARA / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN -- Both the Buchanan and the Marcellus basketball teams had not played since before the Christmas break, and both coaches were a little concerned about being rusty.
At the end neither coach wanted to blame their play on the break, as Buchanan beat Marcellus easily, 76-46.
When Marcellus head coach Dennis Small was asked if the Bucks deserved their No. 10 ranking in Class C, he responded, "definitely and maybe higher."
The Bucks took an early 6-0 lead and never looked back. The Bucks were up 22-13 after the first quarter. Jordan Lee and Zach Bonham each had six points in the first quarter.
The Bucks played everyone, and again got scoring from a lot of people. In fact, the Bucks' starting lineup scored 40 points and the bench scored 36.
The Bucks dominated in every statistic except 3-point baskets. Buchanan finished the night with 22 assists on 32 baskets.
As Buchanan coach Reid McBeth talked about his team's unselfishness, he gave a lot of the credit to the players.
Small had nothing but praise for the Bucks' play.
Buchanan shot 60 percent from the field because of good shot selection with plenty of layups and points in the inside. Buchanan's post players scored 28 points.
Marcellus had a much lower shooting percentage because of Buchanan's defense.
In fact, Buchanan had eight blocked shots with Bonham getting four early in the game.
Buchanan could meet Marcellus again in the Regional Tournament.
Buchanan moves to 5-0 on the season, and travels to River Valley Friday night for a Lakeland Conference matchup. Marcellus is now 3-2.
The Buchanan junior varsity beat Marcellus 60-52. P.J. Pollock led the young Bucks with 25 points. Eric Cole tallied 13 and Taylor Johnson scored 10 for the Buchanan JV.
The Buchanan freshmen fell 54-43. Bryant Sears lead the Bucks with 10 points. Matt Sebasty and Brad Burns each scored nine points.
Buchanan….76
Marcellus….46
Buchanan: Zach Bonham 5 2-2 12, Jordan Lee 5 0-2 10, DuJuan Bennett 4 0-0 8, Brian Shannon 0 0-0 0, Gordon Bryant 5 0-0 11, Tony Robinson 2 1-2 5, Quinton Buish 2 4-4 8, Brandon Kyles 0 0-1 0, Rodney Tembo 0 0-0 0, Kyle Tracey 0 0-0 0, Jacob Brown 3 1-2 7, Jared Rusher 2 2-2 6, Karl Schmidt 3 1-2 7, Raylin Hinds 1 0-0 2. Totals: 32 11-17 76
Marcellus: Dustin Perry 3 4-6 11, Billy Osborn 1 2-2 4, Caleb Stout 5 0-1 11, Ricky Plotts 3 0-2 8, Jacob Hill 1 0-0 2, Scott Sonnevil 0 0-0 0, Chad Turtle 0 0-0 0, Sam Bridges 2 0-3 5, Dustin Stevens 1 0-0 2, Matt Haag 1 0-0 3, Blake Carlson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 6-14 46
Buchanan 22 19 20 15--76
Marcellus 13 16 8 9--46
3-point shooting: Buchanan 1 (Bryant), Marcellus 6 (Plotts 2, Stout, Bridges, Haag, Perry). Team fouls (fouled out): Buchanan 16 (none), Marcellus 16 (none). Team records: Buchanan 5-0, Marcellus 3-2