By By TOM NYHUIS / Dowagiac Daily News
BUCHANAN – The speed and energy of the Cassopolis varsity basketball team was too much for the young Bucks of Buchanan Tuesday night as the Rangers came away with a 71-40 Lakeland Conference win.
It didn't hurt that the Rangers (2-0, 1-0 LAC) had a hot shooting night which included 10 3-pointers in the game.
Leading the way in the scorebook was Cass' Paul Curtis with 18 points. P.J. Smith connected with three treys and finished the night with 12 points. Five other Cass players knocked down 3-pointers in the game. Cass led 52-31 after three quarters of play.
"This is a fun group to watch," Ranger coach Josh Hood said following the game. "After two games I was so worried about having a young team. They are so fun and they are so energetic. I was glad we played Friday because that gave us an extra week to practice. We had last Tuesday off and that helped us out and the kids are just getting after it defensively."
Buchanan struggled on offense turning the ball over 25 times in the game.
"We knew what was coming before the game started," Buchanan coach Reid McBeth said. "I had us down for 25 turnovers and I would guess that led to somewhere to around 30 points.
"I thought our offense would start slow and the reason we are scoring as many points that we are is because of the defensive pressure we are getting some easy buckets at the other end," Hood said.
Avery Brown led the Bucks with 13 points, hitting three from downtown. Marquis Hall was held to nine points.
Cass will travel to Bridgman on Friday for a big Lakeland Conference showdown.
Buchanan will look to rebound and regroup as they travel to Coloma (1-1 1-0) on Friday night.