BUCHANAN — An up and down week for the Buchanan boys basketball team ended on a high note Friday night.

The host Bucks knocked off arch rival and BCS Athletic Conference Red Division leader Brandywine 54-44.

The Bucks, who dropped a 55-51 Red Division contest to Bridgman that may keep Buchanan from winning the outright championship, played with emotion and urgency throughout the contest in front of a packed gym.

The Bobcats struggled shooting the ball during the entire game, which allowed the Bucks to control the tempo of the contest.

“I think we might have been waiting for this one,” said Buchanan coach Reid McBeth about the loss to Bridgman. “We did not want to lose that one, and we certainly did not want to lose two in a row. My guys came out and played as hard as they could. We got down early because I think we had some butterflies.”

Brandywine (14-2, 6-2 Red Division) led briefly to open the game, but found itself trailing Buchanan 18-10 at the end of the first quarter.

The Bobcats would not be able to find any answers for their shooting woes, nor could they match the emotion of the Bucks, who led by nine points (34-25) at halftime.

The lead stayed around double figures the entire second half.

“We tried to slow them down a little bit. They are a heckuva basketball team,” McBeth said. “We were fortunate to come out of here with a ‘W’ today. We slowed them down with that zone [defense], which we haven’t run all year. We had to pull something out of our hat. I am just glad it worked.”

Chris Young led the Bucks (13-3, 5-3 Red Division) with 15 points, while Logan Carson added 13 points.

Kendall Chrismon led Brandywine with 16 points. Carson Knapp finished with 13, and Jordan Abrams finished with 11.