By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
NILES – For Brandywine it just ran out of time.
For Buchanan the biggest offensive rebound of the night gave them a two- point Lakeland Conference win.
Evan Cauffman tipped in an offensive rebound with 1.5 seconds to play to break a 61-61 tie game for the Buchanan 63-61 victory.
Buchanan (4-1, 2-1) was up by as much as 14 points midway through the third quarter but a pesky Bobcat defense didn't quit and in the fourth a 8-0 run by the Bobcats (4-1, 2-1) tied the game at 61 with 1:18 to play.
"We fought back and it was an up hill battle all game long," a disappointed Nathan Knapp of Brandywine said following the tough conference loss. "It's a tough loss and a tough loss to swallow. The kids played hard till the end. Just a little bit more time because the pressure was on them (Buchanan) I could see it in their eyes and we just ran out of time."
Brandywine's comeback was led by Doug Rockett, Bill Bussey and Josh Benjamin offensive charge in the fourth. After Clinton Orr scored a field goal followed by a charity toss the Bucks held a 61-53 lead with four minutes to play in the contest. That's when the Bobcat's 8-0 run tied the game at 61 with 1:18 to go. Buchanan called a time out with 1:00 to play to set up their offense for the final minute.
The Bucks worked the for the final 57.5 seconds getting two shots off in the final 10. Buchanan kicked out the first rebound off an Derek Anglero miss for three Avery Brown fired up a shot from inside the arc and Clinton Orr tipped it back up but the ball rolled of the front of the rim. Cauffman was there to clean up with another tip. This time the ball dropped through the net with 1.5 seconds to break a four minute dry spell.
"Anything at that point I just wanted it to go in the basket." Buchanan coach Reid McBeth sighed. "They (Brandywine) made a heck of a run in the fourth quarter and we didn't do as well as we sure should of. We have enough seniors out there on the floor and enough guys with experience that that should not happen to us."
A Brandywine timeout gave the Bobcats one last shot. The Bobcats could not get its final shot off as the Bucks defected the ball out of bounds under Brandywine's basket as the final buzzer sounded.
"I'm glad we came out of here with a win for sure and this was a great learning experience for us. When you have a 10 or 12 point lead like that you want to be able to keep it. We did some things really well and there are things that we need to work on," McBeth said.
Bussey led all players with a game high 23 points knocking down three from 3-point land. As a team the Bobcats hit six from behind the arc.
Brown also nailed three 3-pointers for the Bucks with Anglero and Orr each hitting two apiece. In the end it was free throws that decided the final score as Buchanan hit 6-of-11 while Brandywine could only manage 5-of-11 at the charity line.
Brandywine controlled the boards as Benjamin pulled down a team high seven as the Bobcats finished the game with 27-21 advantage.
Brown scored a team high 19 points for the Bucks with Marquis Hall adding 16 and Orr contributing to the win with 13. "We almost had what we wanted but just fell short," Knapp said.
Buchanan also won the junior varsity game beating the Bobcats 48-32. Richie Reed led the Bucks with 17 points. Dustin Bell finished the game with 14 for the Bobcats.
Buchanan's freshmen handed Brandywine a 58-30 loss with Ryan Henckel dropping in 14 for the Bucks. Dustin Sater tallied nine for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats will return to action next Thursday as they compete in the Niles Holiday Tournament.
Buchanan will also be in action next Thursday as it travels to Bangor for a tournament.
BUCHANAN 63
Derek Anglero 3 0-1 8; Avery Brown 8 0-2 19; Jon Young 1 0-0 2; Bryan Kuntz 0 3-5 3; Marquis Hall 7 2-2 16; Clinton Orr 5 1-1 13; Jeff Jerue 0 0-0 0; Daniel Blackwell 0 0-0 0; Evan Cauffman 1 0-0 2; David Watts 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 6-11 63
BRANDYWINE 61
Dan Riedenbach 0 0-0 0; Danny Williams 2 0-0 5; Noah Udell 1 0-0 2; Lance Prescott 2 0-1 5; Shane Bankston 0 0-1 0; Doug Rockett 3 0-1 7; Caleb Frazier 2 0-0 4; Bill Bussey 9 2-3 23; Josh Benjamin 5 0-3 10; Jacob Frazier 1 3-5 5. Totals: 25 4-14 61
Buchanan 18 15 19 11 – 63
Brandywine 11 14 18 18 – 61
3-point baskets: Anglero (BU) 2, Brown (BU) 3, Orr (BU) 2, Riedenbach (BW), Prescott (BW), Rockett (BW), Bussey (BW) 3. Total fouls: Buchanan 17, Brandywine 15. Fouled out: None