By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Cassopolis Rangers visited Brandywine's gym Tuesday evening for a Lakeland Conference game and left the Bobcats an unwanted gift.
Cass exploded early, never looking back, and walked away with a 61-40 win, improving its record to 6-7 on the year.
What made the loss even more tough for Bobcat head coach Nate Knapp was that he didn't just lose to any coach, but he lost to one of his closest friends, Josh Hood, head coach of the Rangers.
The two played basketball together at Brandywine High School. Hood said that when he was a sophomore, Knapp was a senior.
Once the game did get started, the Rangers wasted no time taking an early lead.
Dan Stanage set the tone for Cassopolis, scoring nine of the Rangers 18 points in the first period. P.J. Smith added a three-pointer and a basket and Neal Bullock and Will Loux, who made a shot at the buzzer, each added two points to give Cass an 18-6 lead.
Both teams score 13 points in the second period, with the Rangers extending their lead to 31-19 at halftime.
Both coaches were pretty upset with their teams performances in the first half.
Not only did Cassopolis have quite a few of turnovers, but Hood stated that his team did not handle Brandywine's pressure well.
Knapp was also upset with the turnovers his team committed.
That frustration only got worse in the second half as Cass had a 46-29 lead after the third en route to the conference victory.
At the beginning of the season when we were 2-5, no one around thought we were good. Now we're 6-7,” Hood said.
In the lockerroom after the game, Hood announced to his team that they had a day off from practice on Wednesday.
Stanage was the leading scorer for the Rangers with 14 points on the night.
Curtis ended with nine points and Bullock had eight for Cass.
For the Bobcats, Prescott led with eight points, while Caleb Frazier, who had 16 and 25 points during last week's games, ended the night with only six.
Cassopolis…61
Brandywine…40
CASSOPOLIS
Paul Curtis 4 5-5 9, Ryan Anderson 0 0-0 0, John Young 4 2-2 6, P.J. Smith 2 3 6-5 10, Rodney Lewis 2 3-1 3, Will Loux 2 5-3 5, Lonnie Williams 4 3-2 6, Neal Bullock 8 0-0 8, Dan Stanage 12 5-2 14
BRANDYWINE
Justin Ely 2 2-1 3, Adam Prescott 4 1 3-1 8, Matt Wieger 0 1-0 0, Cory Barber 0 0-0 0, Billy McDonald 2 0-0 2, Caleb Frazier 2 4-4 6, D.J. Elrod 4 3-1 5, Bill Bussey 4 0-0 4, Chris Casey 4 0-0 4, Kyle Low 0 2-0 0, Matt Beaver 2 0-0 2, Kevin Curran 2 1 0-0 5, Ryan Hartman 0 2-1 1