By By JEFF FISHER / Vigilant/Argus
Cassopolis' Neal Bullocks broke out of a scoring slump and came ready to play Tuesday night.
Bullocks came off the bench to score 20 of his game-high 28 points in the second half to help lead the Rangers to a 68-64 victory over their arch-rival Edwardsburg in overtime.
The Eddies jumped out to a 13-10 lead after the first quarter. Cassopolis would go on a 4-0 run to narrow the Eddies' lead to three, 17-14.
Edwardsburg junior guard Adam Hancock forced an open court steal followed by back-to-back baskets by David Daniels to swell the Eddies' lead to 27-16. The Eddies took a 28-18 lead into halftime.
The Eddies outscored Cass 16-8 in the quarter.
Hancock had 10 points in the first half for the Eddies.
The momentum carried over into the third quarter as the Eddies jumped out to a 36-28 advantage.
Enter Bullocks
Bullocks scored eight third quarter points to narrow the Eddies' lead to 44-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bullocks' back-to back buckets followed by a three-pointer by Cass' Lonnie Williams gave the Rangers their first lead of the game, 45-44.
With 21 seconds remaining in regulation, David Daniels hit a clutch jumper to give the Eddies' a 54-53 advantage.
Cass' Paul Curtis drained a three-pointer with 6.2 seconds showing on the clock, only to have the Eddies' Hancock sink a shot to tie the game up at 56-56 and send it into overtime.
Both teams matched free throws early in the extra session.
The Eddies' Nate Harness canned a three-pointer to make it a 66-64 Ranger lead with nine seconds to go. Cass hit their free throws down the stretch to seal their victory.
Bullocks led all scorers with 28 points. Paul Curtis netted 13.
Daniels paced the Eddies with 19 points, while Hancock added 15.
The Eddies (1-5 Lakeland, 4-6) now host Berrien Springs Friday night.
The Rangers (3-4 Lakeland, 6-5) will now look to avenge an early season loss when they host conference leader and sixth ranked (Class C) Bridgman next Tuesday night.
Cassopolis also won the junior varsity contest as well by the count of 50-36.
A.J. Ballard led the Rangers with 11 points and six assists. Nick Davis also had 11 points, while Terence Moore had 10 points and five steals.
Drew Warren finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Larry Harris added eight points and 11 rebounds.